The Clackamas print., February 08, 2017, Page 3, Image 3

Tuition increase in forecast
BY KRISTEN WOHLERS
Check underneath your couch cushions because, chances
are, you’ll need those extra coins to pay for tuition next
year.
On the agenda for Clackam as Com m unity College’ s
Feb. 8 Board o f Education m eeting is a recommendation
to increase tuition and fees for the 2017-2018 school
year. The proposed ch an ges are p er credit hour and
include a tuition increase from $90 for the 2016-2017
year to $93 startin g fa ll 2017, a student fee increase
from $2 to $2.50 and a student technology fee increase
from $4.50 to $5.50.
Tuition w en t up b y $3 in 2016-2017 as w ell, and the
college has seen a 125 percent increase in tuition over
the last 15 years, from $40 per credit in 2001-2002.
W hy the increase? A ccording to th e agenda packet
for th e February m eeting, th e m ain concern is fiscal
sustainability. Since about a third o f the college’ sgeneral
fund is furnished from student tuition, in
short, the increase is needed to m aintain
the budget.
The seven members o f the Clackamas
Board o f Education w ill m ake a decision
in March.
&
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PGE programs power down
BY MERARI CALDERON RUIZ
W hy have a class w ith no students in it? W hy continue
offerin g a program w ith no one enrolled?
The Clackamas Community College advisory committee
m ade a decision to suspend certain program s at the
W ilson ville cam pus. T he suspended program s w ere:
Energy and Resource M anagem ent o f Science Degree
Program, Energy and Resource Management Certificate of
Completion, Utility Workforce Readiness Career Pathway
C e rtificate , O ccu p atio n al H ealth and S a fety C areer
P ath w ay C e rtificate, U tility Field T ech n ician Career
Pathway Certificate and Utility Trade-« Preparation: Line
w orker Career Pathw ay Certificate.
Shelly Tracy, the director o f the W ilsonville cam pus’ s
apprenticeship, fire science and emergency management,
w as one o f the people involved in the decision-m aking
process.
" It w asn ’ t ju st a sp u r-o f-th e -m o m e n t decision, it
w as talked about for over a y ea r,” said Tracy. “ Then,
talking w ith our advisory board and our partnership and
continuing to see the numbers dwindle, it just becam e a
photo by Alexis Wagar
The Wilsonville campus of Clackamas Community College is off of Interstate 5 close to Fry’s Electronics.
decision that needed to be made and turn it back into
an in -h ouse program versus offering it to the public.”
According to Cynthia Risan, the dean o f technology,
applied science and public services, the program s were
n ot active th e la st tw o years because there w ere no
students enrolled in them .
The cause o f this w as that the industry requirem ent
changed for students.
“ PGE changed their m ethod o f hiring, o f how th ey
were bringing students in, so they were doing their own
training program ,” said Tracy. “ Basically, the student
had the option o f either com ing to us for training for
a year, or gettin g hired b y PGE im m ediately and being
trained on the jo b .”
A cco rdin g to D avid P lo tkin , th e vice p resid en t o f
in stru ctio n and stu d en t services, th e h isto ry o f th e
W ilson ville cam pus began as a partnership betw een
Clackamas Community College, Portland General Electric
and PacifiCorp. Currently the partnership is only w ith
PGE, and some PG E-taught classes are still offered.
The suspension o f these program s w ill not have an
effect on the W ilsonville campus because there were no
students, and the instructors were all from PGE.
“ A ll m y in structors w ere all PGE journ eym en that
were teaching these students,” said Tracy. “ So w ith our
partnership, that w as actually a relief on our funding
w hen it came to buying equipm ent.”
The cam pus still o ffers o th er program s as w ell as
general education courses and workshops. In fact, some
app ren ticeship program s th a t w ere cram ped on;the
O regon C ity cam pus w ere m oved to th e W ilson ville
campus.
Tracy is currently in the process o fd ra ftin g a plan
to increase grow th opportunities for the W ilsonville
campus.
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