September 27, 2002
Fall 2002 enrollment at SCC up nearly 4 percent
Enrollment at Somerset Community College is expected to reach 4,900 this fall. That represents the highest enrollment in the history of the school. The enrollment at the combined community college, which includes the former SCC, Somerset Technical College and Laurel Technical College, is expected to increase over Fall 2001 enrollment by nearly four percent. Enrollment in the three colleges now forming SCC during the Fall semester of 2001 was 4,721.
Colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) are enrolling record numbers of students this fall. Enrollment is up more than 5 percent over fall 2001 and more than 45 percent since fall 1998, the first year the new system was in place.
KCTCS colleges recently reported to the state Council on Postsecondary Education fall 2002 enrollment of 66,370 full- and part-time students. The preliminary figure includes some course sections that will open in the coming weeks.
The fall 2002 unofficial enrollment represents an increase of 5.15 percent over fall 2001 final enrollment of 63,120. Official enrollment is certified on Nov. 1.
Enrollment has increased this fall among both full-time students (up 4.1 percent) and part-time students (up 5.1 percent). Fifteen of the 16 KCTCS districts saw enrollment increases from fall 2001 to fall 2002.
KCTCS President Michael B. McCall attributed the increases to a variety of factors, including enrollment of high school students, continued growth in distance learning, and opening of new facilities.
“The Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997, which created our system, assigned to KCTCS the responsibility to expand Kentuckians’ access to higher education,” McCall said. “Our colleges are doing exactly that, increasing enrollment by nearly half since KCTCS was established.”
KCTCS has expanded access to postsecondary education by opening new buildings or campuses since fall 2001 in Shelbyville, Danville, Elizabethtown, Glasgow and Cynthiana.
The Glasgow and Elizabethtown facilities are regional postsecondary education centers opened in partnership with Western Kentucky University. The Glasgow center, which opened in spring 2001, already has enrolled more than 100 students.
The regional centers - others soon will open in London and Prestonsburg - combine community and technical college courses with those offered by regional universities. The regional centers will promote the transfer of KCTCS students to universities.
KCTCS colleges also are enhancing access to postsecondary education through distance learning. Nearly 10,000 students are taking KCTCS courses via distance learning this fall, up almost 90 percent from a year ago.
Another factor behind the fall 2002 increase is an expanding partnership among high schools, secondary technical schools, and KCTCS colleges. New agreements allow high school students to more easily enroll in KCTCS colleges to earn credits in occupational/technical or general education courses. More than 7,000 high school students are earning KCTCS college credit, up 46 percent from last year.
“KCTCS colleges assist students in moving from secondary through postsecondary education,” McCall said. “Our partnerships with high schools and universities create a seamless pathway through the educational system.”
September 26, 2002
Colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) are enrolling record numbers of students this fall. Enrollment is up more than 5 percent over fall 2001 and more than 45 percent since fall 1998, the first year the new system was in place.
KCTCS colleges recently reported to the state Council on Postsecondary Education fall 2002 enrollment of 66,370 full- and part-time students. The preliminary figure includes some course sections that will open in the coming weeks.
The fall 2002 unofficial enrollment represents an increase of 5.15 percent over fall 2001 final enrollment of 63,120. Official enrollment is certified on November 1.
Enrollment has increased this fall among both full-time students (up 4.1 percent) and part-time students (up 5.1 percent). Fifteen of the 16 KCTCS districts saw enrollment increases from fall 2001 to fall 2002.
KCTCS President Michael B. McCall attributed the increase to a variety of factors, including enrollment of high school students, continued growth in distance learning, and opening of new facilities.
"The Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997, which created our system, assigned to KCTCS the responsibility to expand Kentuckians' access to higher education," McCall said. "Our colleges are doing exactly that, increasing enrollment by nearly half since KCTCS was established."
KCTCS has expanded access to postsecondary education by opening new buildings or campuses since fall 2001 in Shelbyville, Danville, Elizabethtown, Glasgow and Cynthiana.
The Glasgow and Elizabethtown facilities are regional postsecondary education centers opened in partnership with Western Kentucky University. The Glasgow center, which opened in spring 2001, already has enrolled more than 100 students.
The regional centers - others soon will open in London and Prestonsburg - combine community and technical college courses with those offered by regional universities. The regional centers will promote the transfer of KCTCS students to universities.
KCTCS colleges also are enhancing access to postsecondary education through distance learning. Nearly 10,000 students are taking KCTCS courses via distance learning this fall, up almost 90 percent from a year ago.
Another factor behind the fall 2002 increase is an expanding partnership among high schools, secondary technical schools, and KCTCS colleges.
New agreements allow high school students to more easily enroll in KCTCS colleges to earn credits in occupational/technical or general education courses. More than 7,000 high school students are earning KCTCS college credit, up 46 percent from last year.
"KCTCS colleges assist students in moving from secondary through postsecondary education," McCall said.
"Our partnerships with high schools and universities create a seamless pathway through the educational system."
October 1, 2002
A Japanese firm that makes machines used by robots in automotive manufacturing is locating its second U.S. operation in Bowling Green.
Waltex Inc. announced today it plans to break ground for a 20,000-square-foot facility in the South Central Kentucky Industrial Park by the end of the year. It will begin operations early next spring.
A planned initial work force of 35 people with an estimated payroll of $1.3 million is only the beginning, said Koichi Kimura, president of Toyo Denyo Co. Ltd., the parent company of Waltex.
“We have ambitious goals of growth,” said Kimura through a translator. “We are not some big company like Toyota and Nissan. We are very small but we don’t want to stay small.”
Company officials said the available work force, the trend of automotive industries expanding into the southern part of the United States and other companies’ testimony about southcentral Kentucky figured into their decision.
“We now see another big opportunity for expansion into the southern U.S.,” Kimura said.
The company will be able to meet the specific needs of major auto manufacturers and their suppliers that accompany new car models, said Joe Palcher, Waltex’s general manager.
“Depending on those needs, we custom design equipment to fill the need,” Palcher said. “We manufacture from raw materials and make machinery in order to assemble that machine and to weld parts together and it incorporates robot technology.”
Representatives from Western Kentucky University and the Kentucky Community Technical College System, which likely will train some of Waltex’s work force, were on hand for the announcement at the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce office.
The average wage is expected to be about $18 an hour, according to Todd Denham, vice president of the chamber.
Ichiro Kimura, president of Waltex and son of the parent company’s president, said Waltex consulted with other Japanese companies in Bowling Green before making a decision to locate here.
“We met some existing Japanese companies, including Sumitomo, Kiriu and they are very, very satisfied and they recommended us coming to this area,” Kimura said.
Mayor Sandy Jones and Margaret Grissom, president and CEO of the chamber, met with the company on a recent trip to Japan.
“Having met with this company and others recently in Japan, it is clear that Bowling Green has a presence and is well represented among industry there,” Jones said. “We plan to continue cultivating these relationships in the future.”
October 2, 2002
Kentucky's system of higher education improved its standing on a national report card released yesterday, gaining in the number of people who go to college despite less affordability for those who do.
Kentucky also saw improvement in the number of students who get a college degree, and the number of high school students who take high-level math classes.
This is the second report by the non-profit National Center for Public Policy and Education, based in San Jose, Calif., which gathers data from across the country every two years. The report measures the quality of preparation for higher education amid the states' elementary and secondary systems, participation or enrollment in higher education, affordability, completion rates and benefits to the state derived from higher education.
"This looks at how a state is meeting the needs of its people, focusing not on institutions but on whether our students are prepared for higher education, participating and whether the state is benefiting," said Sue Hodges Moore, interim president of the Council on Postsecondary Education.
Among the improvements in Kentucky:
• The number of young adults earning a high school diploma or GED by age 24 rose from 85 percent in 2000 to 86 percent in 2002.
• Eighth-grader proficiency in math on a national test improved from 16 percent to 21 percent. However, despite gains in math, not enough Kentucky eighth-graders take enough high-level science or algebra.
• The number of high school freshman enrolling in college within four years climbed from 36 percent to 37 percent.• The number of first-time and full-time students who completed a bachelor's degree within five years of graduating from high school rose from 37 percent to 43 percent.
However, Kentucky is still well behind the national average in several areas and lost ground in affordability.
Recent tuition increases meant Kentucky families had to spend more of their income on college, and there was a large gap between Kentucky and other states in the amount of need-based financial aid available.
This statistic raised red flags for Moore.
"We will not be able to achieve our goals for college-going in Kentucky if low-income families find a college education beyond their reach," she said.
The last portion of the report measures how higher education benefits the state. Kentucky made very slight gains in the percentage of adults with a bachelor's degree, from 20 percent to 22 percent, and only a 1 percent gain in personal income as a result of holding a bachelor's degree.
Gov. Paul Patton called the improvements a validation of the higher education reform he ushered through in 1997.
"It does show that Kentucky is making progress," Patton said. "We're doing the right things, we just started awfully low."
The reform act was designed to roll out over 20 years.
"It hasn't been in place long enough to fell the full impact, but we are improving and we're very pleased," said Ed Ford, Patton's education liaison.
But Patton warned that recent economic downturns could hinder higher education gains.
"I'm concerned whether Kentucky will be willing and able to sustain efforts we've made over the past six years," he said.
Patton said he hoped to avoid any further cuts in the higher education budget.
"I've done some hard things in my life recently," he said, "and cutting higher ed would be one of the hardest."