After a short meeting Monday, the Flint Hills Technical College Board of Trustees spent about an hour and a half talking with a consultant about the college’s upcoming accreditation.
On Oct. 2 through Oct. 4, representatives of the Higher Learning Commission will be visiting Flint Hills Technical College to see if the school should get the HLC’s seal of approval. Consultant Betty Stevens, who has served on such visiting teams, went over what to expect.
Dean Hollenbeck, the college’s president, already knew. He’d been through the process twice in Colorado and said the inspection visits can be exacting. But, he added, they’re also worthwhile.
“It’s a good opportunity for the college to look at ourselves and say ‘How do we need to get better here?’” Hollenbeck said. “This is a very positive thing for us. In many cases, there’s no right or wrong answer — just their people looking at the college and saying ‘That may be something you want to look at.’”
If the college receives HLC accreditation, its class credits will be fully portable, meaning a student can transfer in or out of the school without penalty.
In other action, the board:
• Approved the school’s financial reports. Right now, after expenses, the college has a cash balance of $1,372, 599. That is due largely to the college getting the first half of its state aid in August, which comes to a little over $1.1 million.
• Congratulated the school’s nursing students, who had a 100 percent pass rate on their state boards.
• Renewed the board’s operating agreement with the Flint Hills Technical College Foundation for another year. There were no changes.
• Approved a policy dictating when faculty could take a course at the college for no charge.
• Reviewed the construction technology program.
• Reviewed the college’s enrollment. The first-day headcount was 415 students, down from last year’s 426 students but up a little from two years ago.