BOT Approves New Tuition Structure for Finney County Residents
[Garden City, KS] February 10, 2021 -- The GCCC Board of Trustees approved the creation of a special tuition structure for Finney County residents during the regularly scheduled meeting on February 9th.
Tuition and Fees
The Board approved a new tuition structure for Finney County residents that will create a Finney County resident tuition rate. Currently, Finney County residents are included in the in-state tuition rate. Starting in Fall 2021 with this new status, tuition will be held flat at $61 per credit hour for Finney County residents. This starts the process of being able to have a tuition structure which benefits county stakeholders and taxpayers. GCCC is proud of this new initiative and hopes to further advance this benefit for local residents.
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a $1 increase per credit hour for tuition and a $2 increase per credit hour for student fees. The tuition rates for 2021-2022 academic year will be $62 per credit hour for Kansas residents, $76 per credit hour for border states, $81 per credit hour for non-residents, and $99 per credit hour for international students. Cost for online courses will remain unchanged at $150 per credit hour. GCCC's tuition and fees remain one of the lowest in the state among Kansas' 19 community colleges.
New Admission Online Application System
The Admissions Office at GCCC has a new online application system which was demonstrated to the Board during the meeting. This system automatically processes student applications, tracks the application status, and provides enrollment analytics to GCCC staff. The new software has significantly improved the process and ease of enrolling at Garden City Community College!
Student Learning Assessment Team (SLAT)
A presentation from the Student Learning Assessment Team (SLAT) committee highlighted the essential skills assessment that is ongoing at GCCC. This committee, comprised of GCCC faculty across academic areas of campus, is tasked with driving academic assessment. SLAT has adopted the Board of Trustees' list of essential skills and has worked to develop an assessment plan based on them. The five essential skills are critical thinking, cultural diversity, oral communication, social responsibility, and written communication.
Each GCCC program reports the courses, measurement tools, semesters, and instructors in which each essential skills assessment will occur. The essential skills one gains from the time spent at GCCC are shared across all majors, but the presentation varies. For example, all students should be able to think critically, but critical thinking is expressed differently for nurses, physicists, welders, etc.
The SLAT committee has had excellent input from faculty across campus as each program has been asked to assess two essential skills per year in their program. The committee, along with all GCCC faculty, received praise from Leonard Hitz, BOT member. "The students are getting a great educational experience that they can rely on when they go out into the world." Hitz continued. "And that's all because of these efforts put forth by the faculty and I commend you for that."
Strategic Planning Discussion
GCCC President Dr. Ruda presented the Board with a list of deferred maintenance and capital projects that were proposed for a Certificate of Participation (COP) financing agreement. These projects not only help meet deferred maintenance needs of GCCC, but also continue to address aging infrastructure and protecting the community investment in existing infrastructure.
These projects were identified through the Master Facilities Plan and will advance the college on addressing deferred maintenance needs. Projects proposed included updating campus lighting, repairing HVAC, boilers, chillers, dishwasher system, Broncbuster Suites roof replacement, and West Hall upgrades. The total cost of these projects was $3,060,000.
The Board was presented with three options on financing this deferred maintenance. Option one included retaining all current debt service, with the recommendation to refinance the debt on both sets of Wagner apartments, with projected savings of approximately $100,000 over the remaining life of the loan which sunsets in 2026. Additionally, this option would add an additional $250k debt service to address the deferred maintenance projects presented to the board. Option two proposes to sell half of the Wagner Apartments, which would free up $340k in debt in order to finance the $250k debt needed for the projects. Option three, which was mentioned to be the least favorable, was to fund the full project out of capital outlay funding, which would encompass approximately 6-10 years to complete.
The Board recommended GCCC administration investigate option one and present additional details during the next meeting. The Trustees will review the option and discuss the best course of action to take on this matter.
The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for Tuesday, March 9 at 6 p.m. in the President's Conference room.
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Garden City Community College exists to produce positive contributors to the economic and social well-being of society.