Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
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Martinsville, Virginia 24115
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Friday, October 9, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
The New College Institute (NCI) on Thursday reduced its budget by more than $60,000 beyond what was needed to make up for cuts in state funds this fiscal year, fearing additional cuts in the future.
The cuts were approved by the institute’s board in a unanimous vote.
“We wanted to be really conservative” in case the General Assembly makes more cuts when it meets in January, said Executive Director Barry Dorsey.
Dorsey said he thinks the cuts will not affect NCI operations this fiscal year. It is the possibility of future cuts that worries him, he said.
Gov. Tim Kaine in September ordered NCI to trim its general fund budget by 10 percent, or $151,571, for the 2009-10 fiscal year. That left the institute with $1,472,238 in available funds, but expenditures in its approved budget for the fiscal year totaled $1,596,476, a document shows.
The result was that NCI had to trim its spending by $124,238.
However, the board approved $184,416 in reductions on Thursday.
The largest reduction, at $81,855, resulted from postponing the hiring of two new employees — an assistant director for academic programs and an information technology worker — until January, according to Dorsey.
Regarding the assistant director’s position, he said NCI is offering 17 degree programs this fiscal year and needs an employee who is able to devote his or her full attention to overseeing them.
Other savings will stem from spending less on student recruitment efforts, tuition assistance, promotional items and printing, plus delays in replacing outdated or worn-out equipment, the document shows.
Dorsey said that despite those cuts, the 2010-12 biennium starting next July is “really the issue” that concerns him.
If the state provides NCI level funding, or cuts its funds, in the biennium, “certainly we won’t be able to add new programs,” he said. “We would be fortunate to keep the programs we have” now.
That would hinder the institute’s progress, which might affect the State Council on Higher Education for Virginia’s decision, expected in 2012, on whether NCI remains in its current form or evolves into a university or a branch campus of an existing university, officials indicated.
NCI provides local access to higher-level courses needed to earn certain degrees conferred by universities across Virginia. Students attending the institute must have completed their first two years of college classes at a community college or another institution.
The institute, which opened in 2006, anticipates educating more than 400 students this fiscal year.
With that many students and 17 degree programs, “we’ve accomplished in three years what most people, especially those in (state government in) Richmond, thought we could accomplish in six,” Dorsey said.
During Thursday’s meeting, the board met teachers Cindy Nease of Patrick Henry Elementary School and John Heiss of Martinsville High School. They participated in a teacher recertification program this summer at NCI.
Nease said that when she first heard about plans to establish NCI, she did not think the area needed “a college” due to recent population declines.
“I was wrong,” she said. “It’s been a real asset” to the region.
To attract companies and compete in the modern economy, “we need to have an educated work force,” she added.
Heiss noted that people in areas without a nearby university or four-year college can take courses online.
But, he said, “online courses cannot substitute for being in the same room” with instructors and other students and learning from their experiences.
Also Thursday, the NCI board:
• Learned that the New College Foundation has received $846,000 in donations and pledges as part of its $2.5 million fundraising campaign.
The foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, helps fund activities that benefit NCI and its students, including a scholarship endowment named in honor of the late local attorney and civic leader Ben Gardner.
The campaign will continue through 2012.
• Was introduced to Adria Shipp, the institute’s second faculty member in residence for the master’s in counseling degree program.
Shipp, who previously taught in the University of North Carolina system, said NCI is “much more team- and family-oriented than anywhere else I have ever worked.” |
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