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The Hazard Herald
February 10, 2005
Editorial: A Brighter Future Close to Home
By Jay K. Box, President/CEO of Hazard Community and Technical
College
If you have read our newspaper advertisements, heard our ads on the radio,
or seen our promotions on the TV, you most likely realized that our advertisements
always close with the statement “Hazard Community and Technical College—A
Brighter Future, Close to Home.” The slogan, “a brighter future close
to home,” was developed by our Marketing Team almost three years ago. When
the team had interviewed current students about why they had chosen HCTC, the
group found that students most often responded that the college provided them
a quality education at a fair price right here in our community without having
to move away from home.
The students’ comments did not surprise us. As one of 16 college districts
in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), Hazard Community
and Technical College is proud of our history of providing access to higher
education to the citizens of the Kentucky River Area Development District. Our
research shows that 62% of all high school graduates within KRADD who attend
college enroll at HCTC. In addition, almost nine percent of all adults ages
18-64 in Breathitt, Knott, Leslie, and Perry counties have taken courses at
HCTC during the last four years. That number is far and away better than any
other community college in the state.
But access to higher education is being threatened. HCTC, as has Kentucky’s
other public colleges and universities, has suffered four budget cuts in State
appropriations since 2001. The Kentucky Community and Technical College System
has been cut $18 million over the last four years. HCTC’s share of that
has been over $700,000. Meanwhile costs have continued to rise. And so has tuition.
In 2001, Hazard Community and Technical College’s budget reflected that
25% of the public funds used to operate the college was generated by tuition.
Today, that figure is 39%. State government’s continuous cuts to higher
education have caused a tuition “tax” to be placed on our students.
Although at $92 per credit hour, our tuition remains the cheapest of all of
the state’s institutions of higher education, the tuition rate has begun
to put a squeeze on our students’ budgets. Over 200 students showed up
at a recent tuition hearing conducted by the college and KCTCS. Their message
was loud and clear, “if you continue to raise our tuition, we won’t
be able to afford to go to college.”
For our HCTC students, the choice is not whether they go to HCTC or to another
Kentucky college or university, it is whether or not they go to college at all.
This has been most evident with our part-time students. HCTC now enrolls 300
fewer part-time students than it did four years ago. Part-time students do not
traditionally qualify for financial aid and there are no scholarships currently
available for them. They are working full-time jobs, taking care of family,
and just trying to make ends meet. Access is being restricted.
KCTCS and Hazard Community and Technical College are attempting to address
the reduction in State funds in several ways. We continue to work with the Governor
and our elected state representatives and senators to encourage them to restore
the $18 million that has been cut in the last four years. In addition, we are
seeking more grants and direct appropriations from the Federal government than
ever before. Furthermore, we have begun an ambitious major gifts campaign called
“Fulfilling the Promise” that will ask for private donations to supplement
our budget and help us reach our educational goals for the next five years.
Yes, Hazard Community and Technical College has provided a brighter future
close to home for many decades. However, that access to higher education continues
to be threatened by under funding by our State government. Governor Fletcher’s
proposed budget does include a minimal increase in funding for higher education.
But the proposed budget appears to come up short in restoring the millions of
dollars that have been cut from higher education budgets over the last four
years. As the General Assembly debates the budget and the proposed tax modernization
plan in the coming weeks, I would encourage you to call or write our elected
state officials and ask them to support additional funding for higher education.
Ask them to keep the future bright for Eastern Kentucky.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 10, 2005
Community colleges would see a net loss in federal funds under Bush's budget,
advocates say
Although President Bush has consistently praised community colleges, including
as recently as his State of the Union address last week, the budget he released
this week provided them with a mixed message about where they stand among the
administration's priorities.
In one part of the spending plan for 2006, the president called for abolishing
the $1.33-billion Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education program,
which gives some $400-million annually to community colleges to train students
from low-income families for jobs. In addition, he proposed slashing funds for
adult education and literacy by 63 percent, to $215-million.
But in another area of the budget, the president proposed $125-million in new
funds to support community colleges' dual-enrollment programs, which allow high-school
students to take college-level courses for credit. He also put into the spending
plan his $250-million proposal from last year for community colleges to train
workers for high-growth fields like health care and information technology.
The bottom line would be a net loss in federal funds for community colleges,
lobbyists say.
While the budget "opens up some promising new policy approaches,"
said George R. Boggs, president of the American Association of Community Colleges,
it also "scuttles some well-established, proven programs that greatly enhance
the ability of our colleges to fulfill their missions."
Chrisanne L. Gayl, policy director at the Workforce Alliance, a Washington-based
advocacy group, said that the proposed elimination of the Perkins program signaled
a shift in policy because the move would help pay for the president's plan to
expand the No Child Left Behind Act to high schools.
"We see it as a move away from career and technical education to a focus
at the high-school level on academic skills," Ms. Gayl said. "We think
it would have a serious impact on the services that community colleges would
be able to provide."
In a report to Congress last summer, the Bush administration said that the
Perkins program "produced little or no evidence of improved outcomes for
students despite decades of federal investment."
Community-college officials dispute that conclusion. Nick Kremer, executive
dean of community, industry, and technology education at Cerritos College, in
Norwalk, Calif., said the $1-million his institution gets annually from the
Perkins program is used for professional and curricular development and to keep
equipment up to date in ever-changing high-tech fields.
Without the money, he said, "I'm just not sure how we would meet those
needs in an area like health occupations."
Community-college officials say they were caught off-guard by the proposal
to eliminate the Perkins program outright and worry about their chances of saving
it on Capitol Hill.
"We think that this environment is different from previous years,"
said David S. Baime, vice president for government relations at the community-college
association. "The emphasis on deficit reduction is shared on all corners
of the Hill, and we take it very seriously."
The Chronicle of Higher Education
February 10, 2005
Job-training bill that would authorize more grants to 2-year colleges advances
in U.S. House
Congress moved one step closer on Wednesday to expanding a federal program
that supports job training at community colleges as a subcommittee of the U.S.
House of Representatives approved the Job Training Improvement Act (HR 27) by
a vote of 18 to 15.
That act would renew, or reauthorize, the Workforce Investment Act of 1998,
a multibillion-dollar program managed by the Labor Department. The House Committee
on Education and the Workforce, of which the subcommittee is part, will discuss
the bill next week.
The bill would strengthen the partnership between community colleges, local
businesses, and the one-stop centers that provide basic information and job
counseling to the unemployed. Community colleges, or groups of community colleges,
would receive competitively awarded grants under the bill. The grants would
finance job training in fast-growing technology fields with worker shortages.
The bill "authorizes President Bush's proposal to increase the involvement
of community colleges in training our workers," said Rep. Howard P. (Buck)
McKeon, the California Republican who is chairman of the subcommittee. In his
2006 budget plan, issued on Monday, President Bush called for $250-million to
finance job-training programs at community colleges (see article).
Community-college lobbyists, who have asked lawmakers to set aside money for
new training programs in high-tech fields at two-year institutions, said they
were pleased with the bill.
"Our big focus has been on the community-based job-training program, and
we think it is a positive development," said James A. Hermes, senior legislative
associate at the American Association of Community Colleges.
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