Commissioner gathers suggestions for improving higher education system
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PABLO — Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns and Board of Regents Chair Clayton Christian visited Salish Kootenai College on Sterns’ tour around the state. Dubbed a listening tour, the session was designed to allow people to voice concerns and offer suggestions for improvement about the Montana higher education system.
Staff members from Salish Kootenai College and the Ronan/Pablo school district attended.
Stearns spoke about her concern for student success on all levels, including low income, Native American and rural. She also mentioned the hub system, which links students and businesses with the two-year college closest to them, and dual enrollment, where high school students can earn college credit at their high school.
Roger McClure, SKC Director of Career Services, brought up non-beneficiary students or students who are not enrolled in a federally recognized tribe. McClure introduced non-beneficiary students DeeDra Reum, Distance Learning Coordinator, and Andrew Zimmer, who works at the Career Center. One of McClure’s goals, he said, is to ask for funding for the non-beneficiary students.
Another piece of the picture is that students who move to the area to attend SKC often have children of their own, according to Ronan/Pablo District Superintendent Andy Holmlund. The children join the Ronan/Pablo K-12 school system causing “unpredictable bulges in enrollment” that impact staffing and school classification.
Lake County Superintendent of Schools Gale Decker said, ”SKC is a tremendous asset to this area.”
Lots of athletes and kids now attending SKC, Decker said, may not have gone on to higher education because they want to stay in the area.
Saying she had a passion for local schools and dual enrollment, Tracy McDonald, SKC Director of Student Support Systems, said math classes lend themselves well to dual enrollment, McDonald explained, because lots of kids take math when they are freshmen and sophomores in high school and then don’t sign up for any more math classes until college. With dual enrollment, juniors and seniors can continue with math classes and also get college credit.
A pilot program is in the works with Polson High School with Polly Dupuis, an instructor who teaches at both schools.
When they look at the potential for dual enrollment Tom Stack, Ronan High School principal, said school officials also have to look at how it affects the budget. If it does impact the budget, it reduces what the high school can offer.
If a class gets dual enrollment, “it’s absolutely intolerable” if some kids are excluded because they don’t have the money to pay for the college credits, Stearns stated.
The Montana Digital Academy was also a topic. MDA offers online courses, for enriching the course offerings and for credit recovery.
She also announced that Montana was one of only three states in the country to receive Lumina funding. The Lumina Foundation is committed to enrolling and graduating more students from college, especially low-income students, students of color, first generation students and adult learners.
In Montana, Stern said, one out of four kids who attend college go to a community college. It’s more like 45 percent in other western states.
Communities with colleges are much healthier communities, Stern said.
“The Andrews (Zimmer) and the DeeDras (Reum) can get a degree and get a pretty good job,” Stern said.
Lumina’s goal is to increase the percentage of Americans who hold high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025.
SKC had 410 new students sign up for classes this fall for a total of approximately 1,710 students. Non-beneficiary enrollment at SKC cannot be over 51 percent. Currently it’s about 70/30, McClure said, but it’s a figure administrators have to keep in mind.
Christian said non-beneficiary funding is an important piece for the Board of Regents. In April the state cut 5 percent across the board, but the Board of Regents didn’t reduce funding to tribal colleges. They’ve also fully funded non-beneficiary students in 2011 and proposed the same for the November 2011 budget for 2012.
Stern explained that the Board of Regents with the governor’s and legislative support has frozen tuition at all two-year colleges. The last two years tuition has increased only at Montana State University and the University of Montana.
“We are we (Montana University System, Board of Regents,)” Ster said, “It’s not us and them.”
