President’s Update - February 25, 2008
Good morning!
Already week eight of the term as we are nearing the third month of 2008! Our busy work schedules certainly has us focusing more on getting ready for tomorrow than what’s at hand today. So it seems for me.
In the past several weeks the activities that have consumed my time resonate with the word recession, recession, recession. This state of mind or condition in our work spells several different challenges. Less financial resources available, greater expectations in anticipating more enrolled students and a higher level of accountability (more documented student success) and continued innovation and determination in meeting an increasingly louder voice about the importance of education in an expanding and more competitive global society.
At the national level we did learn (during attendance at the Trustees national legislative seminar) that students will have expanded access to the Pell Grant, which is also increasing the level of its awards. Good news and long overdue! The next step is to make these grants available for students during the summer term so that students can afford to accelerate their educational plans for completion.
While the news about the Pell grant and the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (now scheduled to go to legislative conference and provides federal funding for a number of EvCC programs) was positive, there remains the challenge for Congress to find the necessary funding for Perkins programs as the President’s budget eliminated all resources for this longstanding and important effort. There is bipartisan congressional support and that is good news, but this state of affairs requires them to find funding in other federal programs and to reduce those. That is always difficult and political. We’ll be anxiously awaiting the results.
During our time in DC we did meet with our congressional delegation on several fronts. Our focus was discussion about institutional equipment needs and federal support through earmarked funds. In particular, we discussed the needs of aviation training and ways to access surplus equipment. Our interests and needs were well received and seem to have caught their attention as we are already hearing back from the congressional staff.
It was quite gratifying to have our ASB president with us, Martin Ferguson. He did a remarkable job in the discussion of the value of higher education and the needs at EvCC. His presentations were on point and convincing, and he received considerable recognition. We are appreciative for Martin’s interest and participation, and will miss him in future years on this trip. Unless, of course, he happens to be a congressman we are visiting.
At the state level you’ve heard the news about the recent revenue forecast shortfall. This will have an impact on community college resources (there was a forwarded email from SBCTC about the state of community college budget requests). We continue to push on more resources for running start, campus security, and the digital library.However, the outlook is not positive at this time with exception of some level of funding for campus security. Of course, there are three weeks of the session remaining and things can change rapidly.
This information is relevant as it plays into our planning process for the campus budget for this next year. Last week there were several campus budget meetings that provided some basic information about needs and issues for deliberation this year. We are attempting to provide greater opportunity for understanding and input into our budget planning process.College Council will have budget planning as a standing agenda item through the remainder of this year. The College has made significant progress in managing resources more effectively this year, albeit somewhat painful and frustrating. If we wish to increase discretionary financial resources for future years we need to make some strategic investments in new initiatives that will yield increased revenues. Greater interest and input bring new ideas and increased support for what the college needs to do. We will keep you informed as we continue through this planning process.
In another forwarded email this morning, information was shared about the expansion of four-year degrees in Washington, particularly as it applies to the discussion of UW North. You have probably been reading about the latest developments in the news. Everett Community College continues to be supportive and involved. Today we are visiting with UW Bothell about building our partnership and bringing more four-year programs from them. Regardless of the outcome in the legislative session, this topic will continue for residents of this region.
Last Friday several of us (Sandra Fowler-Hill and Gary Newlin) attended the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities annual meetings. We heard speeches from Senator Murray and Congressman Inslee about federal issues of interest as well as from key legislative and federal staff members. There continues to be greater concern about increasing college costs that drive members of congress to pursue pathways to gain more control of higher education. These pathways include leveraging of financial aid, increased reporting requirements, increased public disclosure of institutional operations including accreditation, course transfer guidelines/decisions, and enhanced documentation of student outcomes once they have completed the course of study. Congresses heightened interest in accreditation then creates concern with regional accrediting organizations to revise standards and processes to further document how higher education evaluates itself and to maintain the overall management.
The Northwest Commission also shared information with us on Friday about the new proposed standards that are planned for implementation beyond 2010. And these will require increased data and documentation of our work and of student success.
You are all extremely busy with your many responsibilities and activities. I hope these blogs are of some value in keeping you informed about the different factors that influence our daily operations. If you are interested in learning more, please consider attending the “chat” sessions as we have increased the number of these for the remainder of the year. Have a very good week and thanks for your continued outstanding contributions to students and the college.