Dean James Perey reported that enrollment in traditional credit courses on the Verde Campus was down slightly in the spring of 2018. In spring 2017 it enrolled 1,533 students compared to 1,433 this spring (-100). However, there was an upward trend in offerings through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s programs and Community Education. Sedona showed a huge leap.
The Community College released its annual audited Financial Report for 2016-17 at the February 2018 Governing Board meeting. According to that report, enrollment by headcount District wide for students taking courses for credit was at its lowest level in a decade at 10,000. In 2007/08 the student headcount was 15,582.
The Prescott Campus continued its slide. It reported 1,149 FTSE in 2017-8 compared to 1,229 a year earlier (decline of 80 FTSE). In 2007/08 the Prescott Campus reported 2,137 FTSE (difference of 988 FTSE). The Verde Campus showed a FTSE decline of 8 over the previous year while the Prescott Valley Center showed a decline of 21 FTSE. The Sedona Center reported only 1 FTSE, which was the same for the previous year.
The following is the report released in the College’s audited report.
Recall that Yavapai College has partnered with the Resa Corporation and the City of Prescott to train RESA employees. (See Blog posting dated January 25, 2018.) RESA is a small company located in Prescott. It has been around for about twenty years and is known for providing orthopedic insoles. RESA and the City of Prescott approached the College in December 2018 indicating a need to quickly train future employees. The College agreed to partner with the City and RESA.
The College has moved at lighting speed on this project. It created a 14 week 19 credit training program in about a month. Training begins shortly. It has taken less than a month to renovate 4,000 square feet at the Career and Technical Education Center at the Prescott airport that will act as an employee training center. The space at CTEC was re-purposed to become classroom and lab space.
The training at CTEC is related to the fabrication of insoles created through scanning and 3-D printing. Students enrolled at the College attend a variety of technology related courses and work as paid interns. If they are successful, they are promised full time employment by RESA.
The fist layer of photos below were contained in the February 2018 Governing Board agenda, which can be accessed by clicking here. The second layer of photos were taken either by the College Facilities staff or by RESA.
The Yavapai Community College District Governing Board will hold its next meeting on the Verde Campus, Building “M,” Room 137 on Tuesday, February 13, at 1 pm. The meeting is open to the public and a member of the public may address the Board on any subject for three minutes near the beginning of the meeting.
Football will no longer be a NJCAA sponsored sport at community colleges in Maricopa County after this fall season ends. The decision affects Phoenix College, Scottsdale Community College, Mesa Community College and Glendale Community College. Matt Hasson, district communications director, said in a statement that the district arrived at the decision because of financial issues caused by flat enrollment and a lack of state funding.
The District also said that capital improvements needed to maintain the football programs could exceed $20 million. Furthermore, the football program at the four schools takes up 20 percent of the total MCCCD athletic budget and represents more than 50 percent of the total insurance costs.
A task force that reviewed athletic programs in Maricopa County recommended cutting football programs last year because of funding issues. Maricopa is one of 65 of the 530 community colleges participating in the National Junior College Athletic Association that sponsored football programs.
Yavapai Community College has partnered with Spring Valley Library to improve library facilities. The College retrofitted a classroom at Mayer High School to serve as the new Spring Valley library. It installed technology, constructed shelving, redid the landscape, and brought in new furniture. The following photos below were taken by the College Facilities Staff (with identification added by Blog). They will appear in the President’s report that is a part of the Governing Board agenda for next Tuesday, February 13.
Jennifer Jackson, who is considered a lead faculty member at the Yavapai College Culinary Institute of Sedona, recently became one of fewer than 20 people annually to earn a prestigious Level II Chef Rating from the Culinary Institute of America. The Institute is described by some as the world’s premier culinary college.
The rating is bestowed only on students who apply and are accepted to the Institute and who complete four days of rigorous examination and kitchen practice.
Ms. Jackson was professionally trained at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon and is a certified Professional Chef from the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, New York. Her first endeavor, “Good Things,” was a kitchen gift and antique store in Natchez, Mississippi. Jennifer also owned and operated Delta Blues Gumbo, which provided her famous gumbo to numerous delicatessens in the Portland, Oregon area.
She has been teaching cooking classes the past several years in Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Sedona. Most recently she joined Yavapai Community College. She also taught classes at Sur La Table – Fashion Square/Scottsdale and St. Mary’s Food Bank Community Kitchen.
You may read more about the award in the online Verde Independent article by clicking here.
Everyone consistently agrees that world class education must be a top priority for today’s children. Cottonwood-Oak Creek Superintendent Steve King, after a discussion with Yavapai Community College President Penelope Wills, decided to do something more than just talk about it. He asked Yavapai College’s Film Department if it would work with him and the children in his District to create a film entitled, “My Education Pledge.” (A similar effort had been launched in Texas and Wills’ apparently saw the Texas film during a visit to Las Vegas.) The College agreed to make the film.
The premier of the film was held Friday, February 2 at 2 p.m. at the Cottonwood-Oak Creek auditorium that is located at 1 N Willard Street in Cottonwood. About 150 attended the premier including parents, children, school and college officials.
The film runs about three and a half minutes and its purpose is to inform Arizonans about the importance of post secondary education. It also fits into the goal of Achieve60AZ, which is to help generate greater public and private awareness of the need for a better educated citizen. (It will be shown throughout the state in an effort to generate greater awareness of the need for after high school technical and college training.)
The Yavapai Community College Governing Board was given a preview of the film at their January 16 meeting in Prescott. The film can be viewed below or on the College website. (Click here to go to the College web site where the film can be found in the video of the meeting when it is posted.) A copy of the film as shown to the District Governing Board appears below.
Commentary
Absent a dramatic change, the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board will decide the amount of student tuition increase, if any, at the February Board meeting. Over the past ten years, the Board has increased tuition in some form every year. There is no reason to believe that the Board, driven by the West-County Voting Bloc, will not increase tuition at the February meeting.
But does the Board’s obsession with annually increasing tuition comport with the intent of Arizona’s Constitution regarding the cost of instruction to students? The Blog believes the answer is clearly “no.” Here is why.
The Arizona Constitution states the following: “The university and all other state educational institutions shall be open to students of both sexes, and the instruction furnished shall be as nearly free as possible.” Below are listed some of the reasons that explain why this mandate has not been followed by the Governing Board (a majority vote only since 2013 ).
It seems pretty clear that in a variety of ways, the Governing Board violates Arizona’s Constitution. However, because the difference between four-year tuition at a state university and the Community College is so great, the gap covers up the fact that student instruction at the Community College is not being furnished as nearly free as possible.
Below is a chart showing how tuition was increased in 2017 by the Governing Board by a 4-1 vote (McCasland dissenting).
The Community College has provided details of its preliminary assumptions for the 2018-19 academic year. Among the data furnished the College District Governing Board, about $1.52 million of new revenue will be used as additional compensation for faculty and staff. The remainder of the $2.7 million in new revenue will be allotted to maintenance and programmatic initiatives.
The College Administration projects that a 4% increase in the tax rate will bring in an additional $1 million in revenue and the 5% increase in tuition will yield about $500,000 in new revenue. The preliminary assumptions appear below as they were presented to the Governing Board.
