Pete Loganbill
Features editor
ploganbill@jccc.edu
The college’s concurrent enrollment program, called College Now, provides high school students the opportunity to earn college credit. Dr. Mickey McCloud, vice president of Academic Affairs, said the program exists to let students tap into the benefits of their tax dollars.
“Ultimately, College Now is the college’s attempt to allow county constituents who maybe won’t go here, their aspiration really is more of a four year school right out of the gate, to actually access what their tax dollars are paying for in terms of our expertise at the college,” McCloud said.
Currently, high school students are responsible for paying the tuition of any transferable courses they take, but the college pays for their textbooks at a discounted price, gives the instructor a stipend and provides them with training. However, possible changes to the way the program is funded are being discussed.
“The burden has been primarily on the family to pay the tuition for that,” McCloud said. “The college has only always actually paid for the books, but the students themselves are paying for the tuition cost. The changes that are being currently proposed at the state would actually take what they call the ‘high five,’ which really is the five most transferred courses … [and] for a student who would qualify, those would be paid for by state and not by the family”
The ‘high five’ courses are Composition 1, College Algebra, American History 1, Public Speaking and Introduction to Psychology.
“A student would basically be able to get those first five courses for free if they were an advanced enough student to start their junior year taking CollegeNOW [courses], they’d have the opportunity to basically get their first 15 hours,” McCloud said. “So, they could knock out their first semester with the state footing that bill and not the individual family.”
The funding would be altered so that the college could no longer pay for the textbooks, rather, this burden would be taken on by the school districts.
“We’re not going to be able to provide books for the school districts,” said Melanie Harvey, associate professor of science. “The deal would be … there would be a flat amount that the state would give the community colleges to cover the cost of the class … it would be less than what we’re getting now. It would be free for the student, but we would not be able to provide books. So, the school districts would have to, with their already strapped and underfunded budgets, come up with that money.”
The issue came out of a conversation on the purpose of service areas, the districts which certain community colleges are responsible for.
“Service areas are enforceable through the Board of Regents,” McCloud said. “If and when you want to try and offer an on ground class in somebody else’s service area you have to ask for permission. Any student living anywhere in the state of Kansas can take an online course from anywhere.”
While one student may receive the benefits of their service area, another student down the street may be just outside of the area that community college is responsible for. This is the concern held by the Kansas Board of Regents.
“The argument is it’s unfair that students who happen to live within this neighborhood, because the school district boundary puts them here, they get it for free, but students in the same situation just in the next neighborhood can’t get it,” McCloud said. “It became a state wide conversation about whether or not it should be a right for the state versus the right of a county that has voted into a service area and gives their tax dollars to the community college.”
One community college may offer the same course for a cheaper price, causing a student to want to take a class from a school that is not technically responsible for their service area.
“It really becomes an issue of whether or not the community college is a state entity that everybody has access to, or because we’re funded locally as community colleges, are we truly local entities that provide really great access for the folks who are funding us through their tax dollars?” McCloud said. “That’s become a question for the legislature, where we have legislatures from areas that have not voted into a community college district who want to utilize us, but don’t want to pay in.”
As a result, the Kansas House and Senate is considering making the “high five” courses available for free through all 19 community colleges in the state.
“In both the House and the Senate, we are working on a new funding formula for K-12,” said Senator Molly Baumgardner. “So, that is something that there will continue to be hearings about this … in those committees. The intention is that it would be bundled into the school funding formula, whereby the funds would be given to the school districts who would in turn … [give it] to the community college.”
While McCloud thinks the program sounds good in theory, he acknowledges its possible weaknesses.
“This actually creates a situation where, while it’s going to be free to the student, there is a challenge here in whether or not the state, with all of its associated financial woes of the last several years, will actually be able to sustain the program,” McCloud said.
A similar bill in 2012 ran into this type of problem, and McCloud’s concern is that the five courses may be offered, taken by many students, run out of funding, and then taken away.
“Several years ago, there was a bill in the Senate called ‘Excel in [Career Technical Education]’ which actually created a fund where the state right now is paying for career and technical education coursework for students,” McCloud said. “Well what happened was that was so popular … that it immediately became top heavy, and the allocation that the state made for it was not enough to support the student[s].”
McCloud believes it would be smart to begin this process with only the most transferred course, Composition 1, and then see if it works.
“I think that the better approach would be to slow down and start by rolling it out with one or two courses so that we have an opportunity to work the kinks out before we promise people all these large promises,” McCloud said.
Senator Baumgardner has made the same case at hearings about the issue.
“I urged them, do not jump full body into the pool,” Baumgardner said. “Get your feet in the water.”
The new K-12 funding formula, and whether changes to concurrent enrollment are added to it, will be decided on April 5.
You can find contact information for your local representative or senator here.