MSU signs deal for education center outside West Plains

Missouri State University and Three Rivers College officials met yesterday to sign a memorandum of understanding paving the way for Willow Springs residents to take MSU courses.

The agreement allows for the creation of the South Central Education Consortium, which starting in January, will offer technical and remedial courses from Three Rivers augmented by general education courses from the nearby MSU-West Plains, according to a news release.

"Willow Springs schools have shown excellence in getting students to graduate from high school, and now the new higher education center will help keep them in the area, giving them job skills to make a living wage," said state Sen. Mike Cunningham, R-Rogersville, who attended the ceremony held yesterday at Willow Springs High School, in the release. "Our aim is to do what's right for the kids, and that commitment made everything happen."

MSU President Clif Smart credited Cunningham with the center's financing.

“The fact is, this consortium would not have happened without Sen. Mike Cunningham adding $150,000 to the budget,” Smart said in the release. “We very much appreciate him taking this initiative, and we appreciate the governor signing it and making it available."

Poplar Bluff-based Three Rivers College, which operates southeast Missouri centers in Sikeston, Kennett, Malden, Dexter and Cape Girardeau, will manage the Willows Springs center, with coordinating efforts and services from MSU's West Plains campus located roughly 18 miles southeast of Willow Springs.

Up to 50 students are expected in the spring semester at the center, which allows attendees to complete two-year technical degrees and short-terms certifications from Three Rivers College, with the general education components of those degrees from MSU. Those components are transferrable to four-year colleges or universities in Missouri and Arkansas, according to the release.

The agreement, applicable through 2016 with options to extend, states classes will be provided at Three Rivers' tuition and fee schedule, with course-specific fees also levied by both colleges.

The center is being established in a property that formerly housed a Missouri Department of Transportation facility, but is now owned by the city of Willows Springs, the release said.