November 16, 2002
IRONTON - College officials from Kentucky and Ohio gathered Thursday for a symbolic signing of an agreement to extend in-state tuition rates to students on both sides of the river.
The tuition reciprocity agreement, which goes into effect in January, offers in-state tuition at three area colleges in each state to residents of seven Kentucky and six Ohio counties bordering the Ohio River.
Among high-ranking college officials at the signing were Ashland Community College president Greg Adkins, Morehead State president Ronald G. Eaglin, Ohio University president Robert Glidden, and Ohio University Southern president Dan L. Evans.
Also present were representatives of Shawnee State University and Rio Grande Community College, and officials from the Kentucky Council on Post-secondary Education, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, and the Ohio Board of Regents.
"This is a great historic occasion," Adkins said. Studies of Appalachian issues show one common thread, Adkins said, "the need for greater awareness of the value of learning."
Under the agreement, residents of Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Greenup, Lawrence, Lewis and Mason counties in Kentucky will be able to pay resident tuition to attend Ohio University Southern, Rio Grande Community College and Shawnee State University.
Residents of Adams, Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Pike and Scioto counties in Ohio will have the same privilege at Ashland Community College, Ashland Technical College and Morehead State University's Ashland campus.
The agreement is meant to provide more college choices and to entice students who might otherwise forego college entirely.
It also will make participating colleges more efficient, since they won't have to duplicate programs, Glidden said.
West Virginia originally was to be part of the agreement, with Marshall University as one of the participating institutions, said Jack Connell, director of tuition reciprocity for the Ohio Board of Regents.
However, West Virginia backed out because of a change in the state's higher education authority structure, he said.
Kentucky does have one reciprocal agreement with West Virginia already, Adkins said.
Pike and Martin counties in Kentucky have such an arrangement with Cabell and Wayne counties in West Virginia, he said.
The agreement will be attractive to students on both sides of the river, said Heather Jo Wright of Ashland, who just graduated and wishes she could have taken advantage of the arrangement.
Having attended ACC for her first two years and then transferred to OUS to complete her degree in electronic media, she paid out-of-state tuition even though she lived just a few miles from school.
"This is going to be so much better because you feel like it's your own town anyway," Wright said.
Students will have more choices - the electronic media program she took at OUS isn't available at ACC and OUS doesn't have a theater program like ACC does, she said.
Under a separate agreement announced at the ceremony, students will be able to transfer credits in selected two-year programs at ACC to Shawnee State and finish their four-year degrees there.
Programs affected include health management, accounting and business.
The Paducah Sun
November 16, 2002
With more than 60 suggestions already submitted for renaming the consolidated West Kentucky Technical College and Paducah Community College, school officials are adjusting the submission guidelines.
"People can suggest naming the school for any historical figure they feel was important to education," said Janett Blythe, school marketing and public relations director. She added that there is no limit to the number of suggestions a person can submit.
School officials originally interpreted the Kentucky Community and Technical College System naming guidelines to mean that the school couldn't be named for a person, Blythe said. Upon clarification, the policy prohibits naming the college after a person who is in active service to the school or an elected official, she said.
The submission deadline is Nov. 27. A staff committee will cull the list to no more than 50 names by Dec. 3. The board of directors will review the list and select 10 names, which will be field-tested during the following week. The board will publicize the top five suggestions by Dec. 17. The board will select a name and present it to the KCTCS regents Jan. 16. Approval should be granted by Feb. 23.
Blythe said she could not comment on the names suggested so far.
Drop boxes have been placed on campus for student and staff suggestions. Ideas may also be e-mailed to marthaj.clay@kctcs.edu or mailed to Janett Blythe c/o Paducah Community College, P.O. Box 7380, Paducah KY 42002-7380.
The Paducah Sun
November 15, 2002
EDITOR: Your recent editorials entitled, "Few changes: Higher education reform faltering," and "Out of control: It's time to rein in college costs," paint a rather dismal picture of the state of higher education reform efforts since passage of the 1997 legislation. I would respectfully take issue with this assessment as it relates to the Purchase area, where great changes have taken place in higher education in the past five years.
The changes make the case for improvement themselves:
Consolidation of Paducah Community College and West Kentucky Technical College has resulted in an institution serving nearly 6,000 students - the second-largest community/technical college in the commonwealth. The recent SACS and COE reaccreditation visits to the campuses of PCC and WKTC resulted in remarkably few suggestions for improvement. PCC and WKTC lead the state in distance learning offerings through the Kentucky Virtual University and can claim an unprecedented number of partnerships within the service area. The quality of the PCC faculty is attested to by the fact that Dr. Barbara Veazey, a long-serving faculty member, was selected to head the new combined institution as the best-qualified individual, competing with outstanding candidates from across the nation.
Since the establishment of the University of Kentucky engineering BS degree programs at Paducah four years ago, enrollment in the undergraduate engineering program has risen to 115 students, and is now operating near capacity in some areas. The addition of the new UK graduate center this year coincides with the initiation of a master's degree program in mechanical engineering. An outstanding engineering faculty, all with PhDs from schools such as Purdue, Texas, Vanderbilt and Ohio State, and small class sizes guarantee a quality education, as evidenced by the many positive comments received during the programs' recent ABET accreditation visit.
Cooperation between the various area institutions is perhaps best demonstrated at the engineering center, where students take courses provided by Murray State, PCC and UK, all leading to the UK engineering degree. This combination of resources and talents provides a quality education at the lowest cost, and without duplication of existing programs at other local institutions.
The recently opened Challenger Learning Center could not have happened absent the UK engineering campus in Paducah. The center will give 10,000 elementary school students per year their first chance to see the higher education opportunities that exist for them nearby, and will stimulate their interest in going to college.
Murray State University's Crisp Center in Paducah continues to grow, with an enrollment this year of more than 800 students. Murray's main campus enrollment also continues to grow, and the recently opened Hopkinsville center will benefit that area.
Community support for higher education, always strong in the Purchase area, will be enhanced by the new regional board serving the combined PCC/West Kentucky Technical College. Separating the Paducah Junior College Foundation will allow it to focus more singularly upon the financial needs of the college.
As you note, tuition has increased in recent years, as part of a national trend, but local tuition is still a great deal. Most students at PCC/WKTC can attend college for less than $1,000 per semester. Compare that with any university, and be prepared for a major shock. And, thanks to generous community support, scholarship opportunities abound.
Is everything well with higher education in the Purchase? Absolutely not. But, I submit that one does not have to rely on the analysis of outside experts to see that it has improved greatly in the past five years, and that we are headed in the right direction.
KEN WHEELER
Vice Chairman
Paducah Junior College Foundation, Inc.
Somerset Commonwealth-Journal
November 16, 2002
LEXINGTON, Ky. (November 12, 2002) - Colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) set another record in official enrollment for the fall semester, topping 67,000 students for the first time.
The recently consolidated Somerset Community College topped last year's fall enrollment by 7.6 percent. A total of 5082 students were enrolled at classes at the SCC campuses in Somerset and London, the McCreary Center, and at off-campus sites around the region.
Last fall, enrollment at Somerset Community College reached 4,721. This fall the College set a goal of enrolling 4,900 students. The final official enrollment at SCC on Nov. 1, 2002, was 5,082 students. That was 361 more students than in 2001 and exceeded the College's goal by 182.
"This represents the largest enrollment in the history of Somerset Community College," said Jo Marshall, the president of SCC. "I want to thank our entire faculty and staff for their efforts in reaching this new record. Special thanks go to our Recruitment and Retention Team and to all our students for choosing Somerset Community College."
Final, official enrollment as reported to the state Council on Postsecondary
Education for KCTCS was 67,813 full- and part-time students in credit programs.
That figure represents a 7.4 percent increase over fall 2001 enrollment of 63,120,
and a 49 percent increase over the 45,529 students enrolled in fall 1998, the
first semester that two-year community colleges and technical colleges were
joined in KCTCS.
KCTCS announced in September that it was projecting fall 2002 enrollment at 66,370 students; the preliminary figure included estimates for some course sections that opened since then.
The final enrollment of 67,813 comprises increases in each of the 16 districts of KCTCS. Enrollment of full-time students rose 8.5 percent.
Several factors contributed to the increases, including:
· Enrollment in information technology programs. Students who declared
that they are seeking credentials in information technology programs increased
55 percent to 2,032.
· Enrollments in distance learning courses, which rose 62 percent to
9,821.
· Enrollment of high school students in college courses, which increased
85 percent to 8,978 students.
"KCTCS colleges assist students in moving from secondary through postsecondary
education," KCTCS President Michael B. McCall said. "Our partnerships
with high schools and universities create a seamless pathway through the educational
system."
The 16 districts of KCTCS comprise 62 campuses either open or under construction.
KCTCS colleges change lives by providing accessible and affordable education
and training through academic and technical associate degrees; diploma and certificate
programs in occupational fields; pre-baccalaureate education; adult, continuing
and developmental education; customized training for business and industry;
and distance learning. For more information, visit www.kctcs.edu
.
London Echo-Sentinel
November 12, 2002
Somerset Community College will begin offering classes in its Early Childhood Program at its London Campus beginning with the Spring semester in January 2003.
According to Glenda Patton, the chair of the Business and Human Services Division at the College, "Somerset Community College will expand its Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education (IECE) Program to the Laurel Campus."
"The program has a history of producing qualified graduates who can enter the child care profession ready to offer quality care and education to young children," Patton said.
The SCC Early Childhood Program offers students six credential options. They are the Child Care Provider Certificate, the Child Care Assistant Certificate, the IECE Technical Certificate, the Director's Credential - Kentucky Training Certificate, the IECE Diploma and the Associate of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education.
The Child Care Assistant Certificate provides students with the required training for the Child Development Associate Credential (CDA) administered by the Council for Professional Recognition.
"The courses we will be offering during the Spring semester are those required to complete the CDA credential," Patton said.
"This schedule has been planned with non-traditional students and high school seniors in mind," Patton continued. "We want to make it easier for students to pursue their educational goals."
The following classes will be offered at the SCC Laurel Campus North:
Orientation to Early Childhood Education - three credits, from 2 p.m. to 4:45
p.m. on Wednesdays, Patton instructor.
Health, Safety and Nutrition - three credits, 2 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Tuesdays,
instructor to be announced.
Guiding Young Children - three credits, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Mondays, Patton
instructor.
Applied Experiences in Early Childhood Education - three credits, 9:30 a.m.
to 11:45 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, Patton instructor.
Students who wish to apply for the Early Childhood Program may be eligible for financial assistance and scholarships through a number of programs administered by the College.
Individuals currently working at least 20 hours per week in an early childhood facility may qualify for a KIDS NOW Scholarship. This scholarship provides tuition for up to nine credit hours per semester. The KIDS NOW Scholarship is part of a statewide initiative to enhance the quality of care and education of children in Kentucky.
The deadline for applying for scholarships is Nov. 15.
For more information, interested persons can contact Glenda Patton, the program coordinator, or the College Admissions Office at 606-864-7311 or 606-679-8501