First Graduates Who Found Careers at Barton Look Back After 40 Years

On May 15, 1971, Carol Davis and Linda Dodson were among the 200 students who walked across a platform in Barton Community College’s newly built gymnasium to become the College’s first graduating class.
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Board Continues Interlocal Agreement with City of Great Bend

The Board authorized the College to continue its Interlocal Agreement with the City of Great Bend. The agreement, which covers a period of three years and becomes effective in January, is essentially a rebate program offered to Great Bend citizens through the county to encourage renovations and new construction in the community.

Barton has similar agreements with Ellinwood, Hoisington and Claflin. It is the third agreement the College has signed with the City of Great Bend since 2001.

Assistant City Administrator Nick Gregory said 14 individuals utilized the rebate in 2002; the highest usage was in 2006 with 66; and currently, 33 citizens have utilized the rebate so far this year.

Record $6.5 Million Financial Aid Dispersed through Barton Last Year

Assistant Dean of Student Services Myrna Perkins provided a financial aid report to the Board. She reported that Barton processed $6.5 million in financial aid to Barton students last academic year, the highest amount recorded. Ten years ago when Perkins took over financial aid, Barton processed less than $3 million in aid, she said.

Nationwide this year, there is a 20 percent increase in applications for federal aid, Perkins reported, and Barton is just under that average at 19 percent.

The percentage of Federal Pell Grant applicants has increased as well with the maximum Pell amount going up by more than $600 to $5,350. Comparing this year to last year at this time, Barton has a 59 percent increase in its maximum Pell eligibility. Barton’s average Pell award this year is $4,407 which is about $800 more than it was last year at the same time, said Perkins.

For the fall term so far, Perkins said Barton’s Financial Aid Office has dispersed more than $1 million to students in Pell aid. The office has $167,000 yet to disperse for late-starting classes this fall. As a comparative, the office dispersed a total last year of $1.5 million, which included spring and summer semesters in addition to the fall. Perkins conservatively estimates that Barton will pay more than $2 million in Pell aid to its students this academic year.

Student loan applications are up as well. Perkins expects the Financial Aid office to pay out approximately $200,000 more in loans this year compared to last year.

Of the Barton students who graduated from Barton County high schools last May, Perkins reported 88 percent are receiving some type of financial aid. For the Barton campus, Perkins said 47 percent of the students are receiving some type of financial aid. When Barton-Fort Riley students and the College’s online students are factored in, that percentage drops to 11 percent. But Perkins noted that the percentages reflect only aid that is administered through the Financial Aid Office. There are other types of assistance, such as veteran’s benefits, third party payments and employer reimbursements that aren’t handled by the Financial Aid Office that would increase those overall percentages.

Perkins reported that on average for this year, student financial aid packages are running a little more than $8,000 for the year. The smallest award package is $49 for an hour of tuition and the highest may be as much as $14,000, she said. The aid includes federal aid, state aid, Barton scholarships and any external aid that comes into the College.

Perkins said the annual student loan default rate is at 9.5 percent for Barton, just under the national average for public two-year institutions. The national average for default is 6.7 percent, but community colleges typically run higher because of more leniency on admissions requirements, she explained.

Access Barton financial aid statistics at http://www.bartonccc.edu/instruction/financialaid/office/finaidstats.html .

Board Approves Four Hires

The Board approved four personnel hires: Tristan Burnett, Customer Service Representative (Fort Riley); Dean Dexter, Instructor MICT and EMT, effective Jan. 1; Mica Runnels, Academic Adviser; and Abby Werth, Academic Adviser (Fort Riley).

TEA Slows Process to Address Concerns

Board Vice Chair and KACCT representative Mike Johnson said last month’s discussion by KACCT representatives and College presidents with the Postsecondary Technical Education Authority have indicated a slow-down of the process for TEA, a group charged by the state with aligning curriculum of Kansas postsecondary technical education courses and programs to the needs of business and industry. During his KBOR report, Dr. Heilman also expressed optimism for the last month’s developments related to TEA and the state’s 19 community colleges.

“This was a very monumental change in stepping back and now looking at policy issues,” said Heilman.

Board examines Capital Outlay Needs at Oct. 1 Study Session

Following its Board study session Oct. 1, Trustees took a tour of the Barton campus with Mark Dean and Dr. Heilman.

Earlier, Dean provided a spreadsheet of facility needs for capital outlay during the Trustees study session. He explained that funds are allocated from general funds for major items such as facility items, software purchases, and equipment that needs to be replaced.

Dean explained that the list is fluid and changes as needs are identified by the president and the Board, as well as facility committee members and department heads. Items can be moved from one year to another based upon evaluation of priorities by the president and the Board and the money available to complete projects.

Items are also placed on the list according to life expectancy, said Dean, and depending on the condition of items, they may be moved out to future years.

“If we have a roof that we expect we will need to replace in 2015, but in that year, it is in good shape, we’ll push it out a few more years, until it requires roof replacement,” explained Dean.

Dean said his department keeps capital outlay spending around $1 million a year. That doesn’t include capital financing, which adds $500,000 in expenditures per year.

If the College cannot fund the project in a given year, based upon the $1 million threshold, then all capital outlay items move out another year, Dean explained. The College has Capital Outlay planned through 2017-18.