Running Out of Room

With total enrollment rising by about 16 percent for each of the last three semesters, Ozarks Technical Community College is bursting at the seams.

Nonetheless, OTC has no major plans to expand its Springfield campus in the next two years due to lack of funding, said OTC President Hal Higdon.

While tuition will be rising in 2011 – a $7 hike to $88 per credit hour – the increase follows a two-year tuition freeze that the school and the state government agreed to in exchange for maximum cuts of 5.2 percent in state funding. That means the school’s $11 million state funding allocation will drop by $600,000 in 2011.

“We’re going to have to live with what we have,” Higdon said.

The school’s next project, as approved by its board, will be additional parking.

The board has approved the purchase of the former Tindle Mills property from Drury University, and it will be converted to surface parking, a needed increase and a prerequisite for future campus development, Higdon said. The board has approved a loan package of $2 million to acquire and convert the property, Higdon added.

Legacy of growth
OTC has grown every year since its inception 20 years ago, but it gets less than half the state support enjoyed by other Missouri community colleges, Higdon said, citing figures from the Missouri Department of Higher Education that show OTC is funded at 42 cents on the dollar compared to similar institutions.

Higdon told Springfield Business Journal in March that ideally, the school’s revenues would be evenly split among state, local and tuition funding, but right now, local and state funding contribute about 19 percent and 13 percent, respectively, with the remainder coming from tuition, fees, grants and the OTC Foundation.

In addition to its main Springfield campus, OTC has a campus at Richwood Valley in Christian County and three satellite education centers in Branson, Lebanon and Waynesville. Altogether, these locations serve 12,383 students.

Looking at the amount of square footage per full-time-equivalent student, OTC facilities have 89.5 square feet per student, compared to the average of 151.4 square feet statewide. “We estimate it would cost $60 million just to go to average, so we’re obviously very, very short of space,” Higdon said.

The school’s Major Gifts Capital Campaign is moving toward the OTC Foundation’s $10 million goal, which has received pledges of $7.87 million to date, said Joel Doepker, OTC director of public relations and communications. Campaign officials, who last month held an invitation-only reception at the Tower Club for donor prospects, plan to raise $3 million for the Center for Workforce Development, $2 million for the Center for Health Education, $2 million for student support programs, $2.5 million for student scholarships and $500,000 in unrestricted gifts.

Some of that money will be used to construct specific facilities – such as for health education – but other uses include program development, equipment and scholarships, according to www.otc.edu/foundation, so campaign funds alone won’t solve the space challenges.

Expansion priorities
As school officials await funding for physical expansion, they already have a list of projects they’d like to pursue in an effort to relieve overcrowding:

• Information Commons West. The ICW building was designed to support a second floor within the existing multipurpose space. “We know that for $2 million we can go in and put a second floor there and add about 10 classrooms,” Higdon said. “That’s a high priority.” Pending an addition, in the short-term, the existing multipurpose space at ICW could be subdivided into four fairly large classroom spaces, said Randy Humphrey, vice president of academic affairs.

• Lebanon Education Center. OTC will expand its facilities in Lebanon with the help of a recent $2.6 million gift from Californians Reuben and Mary Lou Casey. Their gift includes several acres and about 70,000 square feet. “We’re making plans now for the build-out of some of those classrooms there,” Higdon said.

• Richwood Valley. Another expansion priority is finishing out the Federal Emergency Management Agency shelter at Richwood Valley, where enrollment increased 23 percent between fall 2008 and fall 2009, Humphrey said.

An April 6 ballot issue in Hollister could add to the list of priorities.

“Hollister School District will be voting in April whether to come into our district,” Higdon said. “If they do, then a priority would jump to the top there; we’d build a center down there to replace our Branson center.” 

Funding would come from Hollister property taxes.

“In return, of course, Hollister residents would get a decrease in their tuition. Those who live in Hollister become in-district students,” Doepker said.

Staged for growth
On OTC’s wish list for a long time – and likely to stay there for the foreseeable future – is a large Work Force Development Technical Center at the Springfield campus. This classroom facility would be built either at the corner of Chestnut Expressway and National, or at the corner of Chestnut Expressway and Sherman, potentially replacing the existing Center for Workforce Development, now housed in rented space at 1001 E. Chestnut Expressway.

Looking to long-range growth, OTC has acquired 34 properties north of its campus for future development.

“There are about 60 properties between us and (Silver Springs) park, and as they come available, we are making offers on them,” Higdon said. When the price is right, such acquisitions are paid for from OTC reserves.

To date, OTC has spent $3,048,700 to acquire such properties.

Until OTC can expand its facilities, it is addressing its enrollment growth and space shortage through creative scheduling, increased utilization of outlying facilities and online course additions.

For example, OTC has added more evening classes and established late-night classes that start after 10 p.m. and run past midnight, Humphrey said.

In late June, OTC will launch a new section of its popular 20-week welding technology program, which will run overnight, 8 p.m–4 a.m. because of space and equipment limitations.

“Given the waiting list, we’ll fill it or come close to filling it right off the bat,” Humphrey added.

In some cases, Springfield-based students are now commuting to Ozark to take the classes they need at Richwood Valley, and enrollment in online classes has exploded, growing 36 percent between fall 2008 and fall 2009.

“We now have 4,000 students who take online classes, and that allows us to expand without having to expand the physical space,” Higdon said.

OTC also has a task force that is looking specifically at hybrid classes – mostly online but with an on-campus lab session once a week or even once every two weeks, Humphrey said.[[In-content Ad]]