NWACC considers adding dormitories

BENTONVILLE — Northwest Arkansas Community College officials are considering adding dormitories.

The Arkansas Legislature recently voted to allow community colleges to have dorms, joining several states already offering the option, said Evelyn Jorgenson, college president.

Jorgenson shared pros and cons of offering housing with the Board of Trustees at its retreat Friday afternoon.

Dorms would change the nature of the campus. For instance, the school would need to provide certain services 24-hours-a-day, but the on-campus residents would create a cohesiveness difficult to foster without dorms, Jorgenson said. Dorms also would provide opportunities to build relationships with international institutions by being able to host visiting students.

A one-bedroom apartment included in a dorm could allow the college to host an artist-in-residence, visiting scholar, speaker or job candidate, she added.

Todd Schwartz, board vice chairman, said parents he talks to say a lack of dorms is the No. 1 reason they exclude the community college as the next step for their teen.

“They want them to have

the dorm experience,” he said.

“I know students feel the same way,” Jorgenson said.

Trustee Ron Branscum asked if any data was being collected or could be collected to quantify those anecdotes.

The most reliable data comes from each student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which provides the degree students are looking to pursue and what type of school they’re wanting to attend, said Todd Kitchen, vice president for student services.

Board members will have the opportunity to visit a couple community colleges with dorms in Missouri and Kansas in the coming weeks.

Of the 7,715 students the college enrolled in the fall of 2017, 4,178, or 54 percent, were Benton County residents. Washington County residents totalled 2,762, or 36 percent.

The number of out-ofstate students totalled 442, which was almost double the 238 enrolled in fall 2016.

The discussion about dorms was a fraction of the board’s three-hour meeting.

Lisa Anderson, executive director of planning, effectiveness and public relations, presented trustees with the “Ends, Goals & Objectives” for the 2018-2019 school year as well as response to how the action plans for last school year went.

This will be the fifth year with the same seven goals — increase student success, provide quality programming and assessment, support financial stability, increase community outreach, support and relations, support and enhance institutional operations, improve land and facilities, and increase diversity and inclusion.

College leaders will discuss the goals over the next year to determine if they need to make any changes, Anderson said.

“We’ll start those conversations soon,” she said.

The board also participated in a personality test, learned how to stop bleeding using a tourniquet from paramedic students and heard from Kitchen and Ricky Thompkins, vice president of learning, on the purpose of community colleges and why employees should be proud to work at them.