The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
NCCC is safe, CCSU president says
Goal to maintain mission of each institution
GOSHEN » Northwestern Connecticut Community College is safe for the time being.
Mark Ojakian, president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, delivered that message to the Northwest Connecticut Council of Governments Thursday morning as he discussed planned cost-saving measures and the future of the state college system with chief elected officials.
A series of cost-saving measures are being planned, Ojakian said, as the state continues to hammer out a budget that could affect the funding of state colleges.
The consolidation of back-office and administrative positions is hoped to save between $41 and $43 million over the next two years, Ojakian said, with further cost reductions likely in the future as functions are centralized.
“The goal is to maintain the mission of each institution; to maintain the local connections, to maintain the foundations that are tied to the institution but to find a way to better streamline the management of those institutions, so that we can ultimately save money in the longterm,” said Ojakian.
Ojakian proposed the consolidation of these roles in April, as the system faced a projected $35 million decrease in state funding.
The specifics of how this will be done is still uncertain.
NCCC President Michael Rooke, also in attendance Thursday, is heading a group of state college presidents and deans planning out the concept at this time.
Other cost-savings could come as staff members leave in the near-future, Ojakian said, as a new collective bargaining agreement takes effect. The method in which these individuals will be replaced, he said, will be carefully considered.
A tuition increase is also planned at both state colleges and universities, Ojakian said, over the next two years.
The Board of Regents approved such an increase in April, which is planned to raise approximately $21 million.
None of the 17 state institutions, including Northwestern Connecticut Community College, will be closed under the current line of thinking, Ojakian said.
“I have no intention, I’ll be very clear, of closing a college. And more specifically, I have no intention of closing Northwestern,” said Ojakian. “So I can’t be any clearer than that.”
The aim of the cost-saving measures is to save money without affecting students or teachers, Rooke said.
“Most of this, or as much as possible, should be invisible to students. Students should be completely unaware that all of this has happened. This is all behind the scenes,” said Rooke. “Faculty are pretty much untouched by this, and so are students.”
Chief elected officials asked a series of questions of Ojakian and Rooke Thursday, touching on how the identities of each state campus will be maintained, the future of the financial foundation of each institution, how to keep young people in the state as the population ages, and how to better attract students to the state college system as student debt weighs down the futures around the country.
Keeping the local character of each institution, Rooke said, is a key focus of the working group he’s leading. Each campus will have individual leadership, he said, even if they do not each have a unique president.
“We are very concerned about that, and when we’re building this structure, we’re paying a great deal of attention to it,” said Rooke. “We want the identities of the individual campuses to remain as they are.”
Each college will keep its own foundation dollars, Ojakian — a concern raised by Winsted Town Manager Robert Geiger Thursday.
There is a perception problem about state colleges, including the community college system, Ojakian said, which needs to be addressed, although financial limitations impede that effort.
Guidance counselors have not recommended that students go to community colleges, instead pushing young people to private institutions.
“We’re starting to turn that corner,” said Ojakian.
The perception of higher education as a status symbol among parents, CSCU Director of Communications Maribel La Luz said, also affects where students attend.
More information about the consolidation plan, including a letter from Ojakian and the two cost-saving measures, is available at http://www.ct.edu/studentsfirst.