Web posted
Monday, January 28, 2008
Cowley sells out of Wichita
By CHRIS ROBINETTE
Traveler Correspondent
Cowley College has sold its South Side Education Center and Aviation Tech Center in Wichita to the Wichita Area Technical College for about $5 million.
The facility and staff at both centers will be transferred to the control of WATC. The decision to sell the facilities was triggered when Wichita State University decided to end a partnership that allowed Cowley to offer classes in Wichita.
The Cowley College Board of Trustees approved the sale earlier this month.
WSU plans to build a new center in Derby, according to Cowley President Pat McAtee.
The loss of the south side center might spell some financial troubles for Cowley College. "We're going to lose about 1,000 enrollments," said McAtee.
This will lower the operating grant that Cowley College receives, which is based on the amount of students enrolled.
"We figure the net effect in the operating grant to be about $3 million," said McAtee.
He said the college has been preparing for this blow for a while and cut about $1 million last year in anticipation. The south side center accounts for about 7-8 percent of the college's total budget and 40 percent of its enrollment.
The $5 million from the sale will help the local campus.
"We will utilize resources to put in new academic and possibly athletic programming to strengthen the Ark City campus," McAtee said in a press release last week.
The aviation maintenance technician program is one of the primary programs at the National Center for Aviation Training at Jabara. Sedgwick County has approved the $54 million project slated to open early in 2010.
The college decided now was the time to make a change, rather than commit more resources to the planned transition to the new facility, McAtee said.
"Cowley brought the aviation maintenance program to the community at the request of the Kansas Technical Training Initiative and has performed magnificently," said Peter Gustaf, president of WATC. "The decision to transition the program allows us plenty of time to coordinate efforts and seamlessly move the program into the new campus."
No one is sure about the effect that the sale of the centers will have on the long-term financial future of Cowley College, though McAtee said he is "optimistic."
He said that Cowley College will continue to look for new opportunities, just as it did 12 years ago when it entered the partnership with WSU to set up both the aviation and south side centers.
The south side center offers general education courses like math, English composition, humanities, natural science, and social science courses. The center will continue to operate as usual until July when the transfer will officially occur. The aviation program will do the same until May 1.
As for the effect on the Ark City Cowley College campus, McAtee says,"It is going to be hard to say."
He doesn't expect a major impact. In fact Cowley College will be adding a soccer team.
"I don't anticipate any huge cuts in any of our programs," said McAtee, adding "We think we've got it, with the revenue we get from the sale."
Many of the community performances that Cowley College offers as part of its arts program, such as the Christmas Vespers, will not be effected either. The college also plans to continue to bring in groups like African Footprints.
Scholarships, the cost of tuition and dorm costs will not rise either, according to McAtee, who said that tuition and dorm costs will only rise depending on inflation.
Cowley College will be smaller for the time being. McAtee said there's nothing wrong with being a smaller college, as long as the quality is maintained. He added that Cowley will "continue to be a progressive community college."
"We will continue to look at what is in our best interest in terms of activities and programs, or partnerships," he said. "We think we're gonna be OK moving forward over the next three to five years."
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