NPC shows new website; trustees OK budget

National Park College provided details for its new website Wednesday during the May meeting of the board of trustees, which approved the budget for the 2016-17 school year.

The college began work on the new http:// www.np.edu website in the fall semester. Melony Ritter, communications director, explained the new features to trustees in the Gerald Fisher Campus Center Wednesday.

Jeff Weaver, vice president for external relations, said Ritter has overseen the project throughout the semester. Web developer Jake Berry was hired

in December and has worked with Diane Bruce, part-time web content editor, in the spring semester to rebuild pages for the academic degree programs and migrate content from the former site.

A new function allows the college to place a warning message to the site if needed. The function is currently being used to alert users to the new design.

“With a project this large comes lots of things we need to fix,” Ritter said. “We have provided a reporting system for people to submit those requests.”

A total of 881 unique pages of content have been developed. All 77 individual departments have their own sites with specialized navigation and menus.

Student success stories and faculty profiles have been added for each division. The cost of attendance is provided for every program.

The new design is compatible with all modern browsers and automatically adjusts to fit any browser size.

The site will feature an updated calendar and news feed system. The feed automatically populates the pages of the specific departments involved.

The project will be completed in three phases. The first phase included the development of pages for academic programs.

The second phase will involve a redesign of all other department pages during upcoming months. The third phase will aim to provide more complex features, such as an interactive campus map and an improved search function.

Ritter said an emphasis was placed on making “calls to action” readily available, such as functions for students to apply or research financial aid. She said users will be able locate information more easily with shorter, simpler menus.

“A project of this magnitude is a campuswide effort,” Weaver said. “I am extremely proud of the work my team has put into it and appreciate all of the support from our division chairs to make it happen.”

The 2016-17 budget for more than $17.9 million was approved by trustees in the regular meeting. Steve Trusty, vice president for finance and administration, discussed the budget with board members in a finance committee meeting before the regular meeting.

“I am pleased we are not going up on tuition like some of the other schools,” said Don Harris, committee chair. “Although, we could use the money.”

The college has budgeted for more than $6.8 million in revenue from tuition and fees during 201617. The total is about a 5 percent decrease from the $7.2 million in the previous budget.

“I think we are going to be up, but we are budgeting conservatively,” said NPC President John Hogan.

Enrollment at the college increased by about 0.5 percent last fall, eighth-best among the state’s two-year colleges. A decrease in part-time college and nontraditional enrollment was countered by a 60 percent increase to 853 high school students, third most in the state.

More than half of the two-year colleges experienced enrollment decreases in the fall despite a boost from high school programs and concurrent credit courses. The most significant decrease was seen at Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, the largest two-year college in the state.

“The goal is to invest in those things that are going to help us to grow, like additional recruitment, advertising, the one stop shop in student affairs and the enrollment services model,” Hogan said. “Those are the kinds of things that we are trying to invest in so we do get on a positive enrollment trend.”

Hogan recognized Suzy Still, testing center director, during the regular meeting for the testing center’s recent certification award from the National College Testing Association. The center is the fifth in the state to receive the national certification.