High Elevation Education

by Doresa Banning

In the face of Sierra Nevada College's (SNC) notable recent growth, the mid-August announcement that the institution—The Lake's only four-year college—might be closing its doors after the coming academic year due to lack of funding was highly unexpected, stunning faculty and students alike. SNC is currently looking to stay afloat by partnering with another academic institution, including (at press time) the University of Nevada, Reno, and the Desert Research Institute.

With recent issues also plaguing South Shore's Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC), including declining enrollment numbers, hopes for creating a strong educational environment at The Lake might appear to be in jeopardy. Yet LTCC is still managing to expand areas of its curriculum and open a new library and gallery. And over in Truckee, Sierra College (whose main campus is in Rocklin, California) is expanding its mountain footprint with the construction of an entirely new campus.

Mountain residents seeking to enhance their knowledge banks also have an increasing number of options on the Web, including study supported by nearby brick-and-mortar facilities.

Here are the very different realities now facing the region's high elevation, higher education establishments.

Sierra College

Sierra College (SC) currently serves approximately 350 students in a 15,000 square foot leased facility and in classrooms at 2 local high schools. The 2-year community college offers associate degrees in arts and science as well as business and vocational disciplines.

"We've been in the leased facility for 3 years," says Dean Rick Rantz, "and we're busting out the seams." All that will change with the construction of a new campus capable of serving 1,000 students. A $38 million bond, which will cover the cost, was passed by voters in 2004.

"Truckee residents have really embraced the college," Rantz says. "They realize it can help the region diversify from its existing economy and help students gain skills for a living wage."

Sacramento-based Lionakis-Beaumont Design Group has designed the new facilities, and an environmental impact review has been completed. Rantz hopes to break ground this October. The new campus, to be located on a 73-acre parcel on the southeast corner of Highways 80 and 89, will feature a rustic look and sustainable energy features that its designers hope will earn it a "silver" designation by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

The first phase will include computer and science laboratories, art studios, classrooms, a library, student dining area, administrative area, student commons, bookstore, maintenance facilities and faculty offices. The entire campus will be wireless.

The first phase could be open by spring 2009. Two years later, student and faculty housing would be available. The project's second phase will be the creation of a visual/performing arts center.

"We don't want to offer programs for the sake of offering programs," Rantz says. "We want to offer programs that are meaningful and have some use to the community and the industries that drive it economically."

For the area's retirees, SC has expanded its Osher Lifelong Learning Institute to the Truckee campus, offering noncredit-based classes. The college is also designing courses and developing marketing plans to reach the area's growing Hispanic population. And it's rethinking ways to capture second home owners as students.

Other new additions include the Small Business Development Program; the Community Education Program, for people needing to upgrade skills in areas such as computer software; and the College Experience Program, which allows high school students to take college classes that count for both high school and college credit.

Assessments that SC conducted last year indicated some local industries needed certain types of workers. So, the college partnered with the California Ski Industry Association to offer a program that trains lift mechanics. It also is extending to the Truckee campus its mechatronics program, which teaches skills in pneumatic, hydraulic, electrical and computer technology. SC is working with the Contractors Association of Truckee Tahoe to develop a vocational program for students who aren't college or four-year university bound. Further, it plans to develop an institute for sustainable practices, to include programs in watershed management, green building practices and alternative energy.

"It's difficult to make a wage that allows you to live here in Truckee," notes Rantz. "The kinds of programs we're designing here we hope will help people achieve that."

Lake Tahoe Community College

Operating on a quarter system, Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) offers certificates and associate degrees in vocational and academic disciplines, from culinary arts to computer studies.

The college has been expanding steadily since its 1988 inception. It opened a 26,000 square foot gymnasium and student center in 2002. The most recent addition, the Learning Resource Center, is scheduled to open this fall. The new, 27,000 square foot building will house a new, larger library, an art gallery, meeting rooms and a classroom and be equipped with wireless capability. The $8.5 million project, excluding the art galleries, is state funded.

Unfortunately, student enrollment has not kept pace with these expansions; it's been on the decline since 2002 when, ironically, the publication Community College Week ranked LTCC as the eighth fastest growing community college in the country. President Guy Lease attributes the drop to changes in South Lake Tahoe, such as families relocating out of the area, high school graduates moving away and local homes being purchased by nonresident second home owners.

Now, with 1,600 full-time students, low enrollment numbers are having serious consequences. The number of classes offered per subject is being reduced. Should enrollment drop to 1,500 certain programs may be reevaluated, Lease says.

To counteract the issue, the college has been actively recruiting new students for the last two years in Sacramento, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area. "We don't feel we're locked into a declining enrollment number," he says. "We feel that once we get the library up and do a better job with recruitment efforts, we can return the enrollment to a steady growth."

Meanwhile, in July, LTCC's Academic Senate charged President Lease with "demonstrating a significant lack of skills in the internal leadership of the district," according to a proposed resolution to be voted on in September. The resolution did not call for Lease's removal.

"I have people who don't agree with the decisions I've made," Lease says in response to the resolution. "It's not that they hate me or want me to leave necessarily. They're just expressing some concerns, and we need to address them."

Lease, who's been LTCC's president for 16 years, plans to stay and resolve the issues. "The important part of this is communication going both ways," he says, "and if that isn't happening, I need to make that happen."

Despite the current difficulties, in addition to campus expansions, LTCC continues to implement changes that will better serve its students. In 2004, it rolled out WebReg, allowing 80 percent of registration to occur via the Internet. And this summer the college offered its highest number of online courses, 14. Hybrid classes that require some classroom time along with the online component are also available.

"We're really just getting into offering more courses online," Lease says. "We're finding a very strong response to it."

Sierra Nevada College

The Sierra Nevada College (SNC) administration has been implementing changes with two goals in mind: make the institution the best it can be for students and shape it into more of a community resource for the public. Despite the fact that the school has been making its way steadily toward both of these aims—creating stunning new facilities at a new campus and providing increasingly valued cultural outreach to the surrounding community—SNC is at a crossroads which may, or may not, spell its demise.

SNC was founded in 1969 as a liberal art school with an environmental studies emphasis. Currently, this Incline Village institution has four undergraduate departments—Science and Technology, Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Science and Management. It also offers a graduate program in Reno and Las Vegas for a Master of Arts in Teaching.

In its 36 years of operation, the school has built a reputation for providing a quality education and a strong student/faculty community. Just this year, the school is completing its relocation from the Mountain Campus on College Drive to the $61 million Lake Campus on Tahoe Boulevard, which is completely wireless and features the 32,000 square foot Prim Library, among other upgrades.

Add to these incredible improvements SNC's beautiful surroundings and it is not surprising that several universities are reportedly looking to absorb SNC, thereby saving it from ruin. The college announced that among those institutions is University of Nevada, Reno and the Desert Research Institute. Shining a ray of hope on the situation, John W. Altman, the chairman of SNC's board stated in mid-August that he hoped to have a formal proposal from one of these or other would-be partners prior the end of September.

SNC's problems came to a head when there was a drop in student enrollment for the coming academic year; the prepared budget was based on a student body totaling 340 and only 270 had enrolled. In the face of these subpar numbers and an endowment too small to sustain the college ($4 million), the decision was made to seek a partner.

Altman put the situation into perspective with hard numbers stating that he believed the college would need an enrollment of at least 600 students and/or an endowment of $100 million to survive on its own.

Even if SNC can find a suitable suitor, it's hard to imagine that the marriage can be consummated quickly. SNC's current staff has been notified of impending layoffs; since they are not tenured faculty, their job security is limited.

Having become an increasingly important part of the cultural livelihood of the area and providing top-notch education for over three decades, one can only hope that the next incarnation of the Incline Village college continues along its well-chosen path while bringing with it resources enough to continue SNC's legacy.

Regional Web-Based Education

Two other regional schools are using technology to make higher education more accessible. The University of Phoenix, which has a Reno campus, offers students the ability to obtain a bachelor's and/or master's degree entirely via the Internet. Doctoral programs require workshop attendance. Degrees programs are available in Business, Technology, Health Care, Education, and Social and Behavioral Science. Students who prefer some classroom time may opt for combination online and traditional classroom instruction.

In Carson City, Western Nevada Community College offers nearly 100 Web classes in English, History, Health Information, Management, Law, Psychology, Spanish, Education, Criminal Justice, Business, Art and Computers.

Both schools have Web-based student services available, such as registration, library access and book buying.

Technological advances and increased interest in the benefits that higher education brings, both on a personal level and a community level, appear to be making colleges a more prominent factor in our area. Only time will tell if they deliver on the hoped-for economic and cultural diversification, but the future looks bright.