Tuesday, November 09, 1999
$10 million proposed for new college
Two-year program wins state support
BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A community college for Northern Kentucky got a positive nod Monday in the form of a $10 million budget request by the Council on Post-
secondary Education.
The governing body for the state's colleges recommended including that amount in the state's 2000-02 budget to help start a community and technical college in the region, the only part of the state without one.
“The council is supportive of a community college, based on the sense that Northern Kentucky is growing in economic importance and is a vital part of the state,” council President Gordon Davies said.
The council's budget recommendation now goes to Gov. Paul Patton.
If the request remains in the executive budget, it would then be presented to the General Assembly in January, which votes whether to spend the money in the next biennium.
Supporters of a Northern Kentucky community college said Monday's action was good news.
Rogers Redding, interim executive vice president and provost at Northern Kentucky University, said a community college would strengthen the area's educational offerings.
“We feel like this area is badly under-built both in the way of a community college and in the master's degree and higher-education spectrum,” Mr. Redding said.
A community college would let NKU reduce its focus on community education and put more energy toward baccalaureate, master's and doctoral programs.
A $35,000 feasibility study under way by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems in Boulder, Colo., is expected to point out the need for more vocational and technical education classes in Northern Kentucky.
The study, to be released this month, also will note the time needed to develop a com munity college. Educators say it would take five to 10 years to create a fully operational school.
Community and business leaders and educators cite several reasons they say support the need for a community college:
• An unemployment rate of 3.5 percent in Greater Cincinnati (below the national average of 4.2 percent) is generating concern about how to find skilled workers to fill an estimated growth of 34,000 jobs a year through 2006.
• 50,000 Northern Kentuckians who are 25 or older have some college credits but no degree; 214,000 Cincinnati-area residents are in the same boat.
• Northern Kentucky University offers 12 associate's degree programs, enrolling 2,295 students out of total student population of 12,000.
• There are 1,590 NKU students taking remedial classes.
The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is excited, despite the long process ahead, spokesman Bryan Armstrong said.
“There is no question that Northern Kentucky employers have been saying for some time that they need an educated work force,” he said. “We are delighted this is moving forward to allow us to expand.”
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