WNCC 2010 Self-Study Report - Western Nebraska Community ...

The original designations were built on the assumption that courses like nursing, information
technology, and most other career or vocational two-year, terminal-degree offerings required extra
equipment. Similarly, “heavy vocational” courses like automotive technology and industrial or
manufacturing areas receive a 2.0 rating, meaning that funding is doubled to support these classes
which require very expensive equipment to operate, especially with the need to maintain currency
in the curriculum and to provide up-to-date training.
Another community college, Metropolitan Community College (Metro) based in Omaha, has
expressed serious concerns with the funding system and has subsequently withdrawn from the
Nebraska Community College Association. Its Board is trying to prompt legislative action to
prevent the implementation of the new formula and to revise the current funding structure.
This has complicated the situation for the other five colleges, introducing one more note of
uncertainty about budgeting and resources, further accentuating problems in planning for the
future. Short-term operating budgets are unpredictable, and long-term planning for facilities or
expansion is equally affected.
Board members and administrators at Metro appear to object to three aspects of the formula:
1. The categorization of all general education and transfer courses in category 1
2. The shift to REU’s as a basis for state aid
3. The burden of developmental education, which is also included in the rating of 1 for
funding calculation.
Since transfer courses count as only a 1 in calculations, the funding remains static, while
vocational course offerings with higher conversion rates gain a larger share of the funding pool
dollars. Particularly, Metro officials argue that nearly all of the science classes require laboratory
sections which involve expensive equipment and a greater teacher load because the increased
contact hours for instructors during labs. Thus, more teaching load credit is accrued by the
instructors, increasing instructional cost and decreasing instructor availability to offer other
sections. Complicating this further are issues relating to lab sizes, which are normally restricted
because of safety and oversight concerns to as few as 8 students up to a usual total of about 12.
This means that often 2 or 3 lab sessions must be offered for each theory course in cases like
earth or life sciences, chemistry, engineering, and physics.
Technology-intensive course offerings require institutional support beyond classrooms normally
used for courses like English or even mathematics, according to Metro officials. Again, these
points are also applicable to WNCC, although WNCC has chosen not to protest the funding plan
implementation. WNCC officials and all the other college leaders signed the agreement and
understood the ramifications of a system built upon some degree of compromise for all six entities
(the six community colleges in Nebraska) in order to create a fair and reliable system of allocation.
The previously mentioned conversion to REU’s for calculation of state aid through the funding
formula favors vocational education in general. WNCC and Metro both offer significant proportions
of transfer education (normally around 50-60% for WNCC across various academic years). Those
colleges which are more oriented toward being technical institutes will benefit, while WNCC and
Metro will lose funds in the process. An obvious strategy is to increase career training
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Western Nebraska Community College