News
March 4, 2004
Contact: Lorna Sutton, Director of Communications, SBCTC, 360-704-4310
At March 10-11 meeting, two-year college board to discuss relationship with K-12 education, tuition waivers, increasing access to bachelor’s degrees
OLYMPIA – Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson will meet with the State
Board for Community and Technical Colleges at a study session on Wednesday, March 10, to discuss ways in which the two-year colleges can support and coordinate with current efforts to raise the academic achievement levels of K-12 students.
This discussion is a continuation of intensive efforts to reduce the need for remedial coursework among recent high school graduates when they enter college, and to provide more diverse dual-credit programs. Dual-credit programs such as Running Start allow high school students to earn both college and high school credit prior to high school graduation.
Bergeson’s presentation will focus on progress made in improving coordination between the K-12 and higher education systems, and on the role of schools in providing guidance to inform and improve students’ decisions about the courses they take and their postsecondary education and career planning.
The State Board will also discuss the role of the two-year colleges in providing access to bachelor’s degrees. This issue is receiving increasing attention because of the rapidly growing gap between supply and demand in Washington state. The number of students seeking bachelor’s degrees is greater than the number of opportunities available.
Currently, 40 percent of those who earn four-year degrees in Washington begin their college education in community or technical colleges. The two-year colleges also host universities that offer bachelor’s degrees on their campuses in 22 locations.
The discussion will include an examination of other states’ strategies to expand access, including allowing some community colleges to offer four-year degrees. The State Board will provide staff with direction regarding what further assessment of this and other strategies is warranted.
A third agenda item will be discussion and action on a resolution regarding changes in tuition waivers. This issue has been studied and discussed by the board and a system task force since last fall. Three major categories of tuition waivers will be addressed: basic skills (which) includes adult literacy, high school completion, and English as a second language programs), apprenticeship programs, and parent education.
The proposal calls for implementing a $25 per quarter charge for basic skills courses, with colleges permitted to waive this charge for those who cannot afford it, and a reduction in the waiver for apprenticeship programs from two-thirds to one-half of tuition, with financial aid available for low-income students. The current parent education tuition waiver would be retained, although efforts would be undertaken to explain the other fees parent education students pay for the programs they participate in with their children.
The board will meet in a study session on Wednesday, March 10, from 1 to 5 p.m., followed by a regular meeting from 8:15 to 11:40 a.m. on Thursday, March 11. Both meetings will be held in Building 22, Room 200-A, at South Puget Sound Community College. The board has also scheduled a dinner meeting Wednesday with the South Puget Sound Community College Board of Trustees. All meetings are open to the public.
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The meeting agenda and background materials are posted on the State Board Web site at: http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/general/a_board/.
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