Flint Hills Technical College continues to grow and prosper, despite the looming threat of budget cuts in the years ahead.
An article in the latest issue of the publication “Community College Week” recognized the technical college as the 26th fastest growing public two-year school in the country among those with enrollments under 2,500. The article compiled data to analyze changes in enrollment from fall 2006 to fall 2007.
“It’s not big, but the growth is there,” said president Dean Hollenbeck at the technical college’s board of trustees meeting on Monday. “Because of the programs that we’re doing and we’re expanding some things like dental hygiene, and our enrollment’s real strong and we’re offering quality programs here, they recognized us for our growth.”
Hollenbeck said that the school remains important because it serves a need in the community. “If you look down that list of two-year schools, you see a lot of technical colleges that are growing,” he said. “And that’s because technical education is becoming much more important, and I’ve said this for years. There’s a resurgence in the importance of technical education in all of our communities.”
Hollenbeck said part of the reason the school is growing so much is because the faculty has identified new programs that are drawing new students. “We’ve got a lot of students because of the way we’re marketing the school and working with high schools, we’re getting a lot of people that haven’t been coming in the past. ... When you start looking at economic development and people start realizing, ‘I can go to Flint Hills Technical College, and I can upgrade my skills and I can get paid more,’ that’s what’s starting to sink in and that’s one of the messages we’re sending out.”
One reason the school’s growth is important is to make up for cuts in state money in the years ahead. Schools in Kansas are looking at three percent reductions for 2009, and four percent for 2010. “We’ve committed ourselves as a group to find ways to increase our growth so that we can offset any reductions that have to be made,” Hollenbeck said. “We’re already anticipating that we’re going to have more secondary students.” He said there are some schools that have indicated they will be sending significantly more students than they have in the past. One of those schools is Eureka, which has said it will send twelve students instead of the one or two it has sent in the past. “We think there’s some opportunities here with secondary students,” he said.
Another reason growth is important is that an educated workforce is essential in moving the economy. Hollenbeck has written a letter to Gov. Sebelius in response to the budget cuts. In it, he emphasizes the importance of technical education and the risks of cutting funds for programs. “The technical institutions are in the position to greatly impact economic development and workforce development here in Kansas, and believe that the best way to move the economic engine forward is to develop a highly skilled workforce,” the letter states. “... The need for increased investment in training and retraining the Kansas workforce is already well documented and cutting funding could not come at a worse time for Kansas.” Hollenbeck said the funding cuts will lead schools to cut faculty, staff and programs, which will affect the school’s ability to provide the state with a trained workforce. “Reductions to this extent will have enormous negative influences on the college operations, reduce the number of students, and will take years to overcome,” the letter states.