Lcsc Won’t Trim Program President Says State Cuts Won’t Affect Lake City Outreach

Statewide cuts in education funding won’t hurt the Coeur d’Alene campus of Lewis-Clark State College, said its new president, James Hottois.

Hottois visited Coeur d’Alene Monday to get to know the community he has pledged to serve with quality four-year programs.

“If anything, we want to expand our outreach efforts,” said Hottois, who came to LCSC in July from Eastern Oregon State College in La Grande, Ore., where he was the chief academic officer.

“The trick is to find ways to do that” given the announcement of recent cutbacks in state funding, he said.

The Lewiston-based state college could lose $245,000 under the $26 million statewide cutbacks announced last week by Gov. Phil Batt.

“We don’t have any institutional reserve fund we can dip into,” Hottois said.

On top of the cutbacks, the college doesn’t receive enough funding to keep up with growth, he said. Last spring, the state Board of Education turned down a request from LCSC students to increase tuition and fees by 9 percent. The board held the line at 4.7 percent.

“We don’t have fat in our budget,” Hottois said. “We have to look at what not to provide.”

But under Hottois, LCSC does not intend to back away from its commitment to serve non-traditional students in a non-traditional fashion, he said.

The college’s niche is bringing a four-year college to students via satellite campuses and technology.

Last year, LCSC expanded and moved its Coeur d’Alene programs to a building on Seventh Street and Wallace Avenue. This year, 375 students are taking classes there.

“We’re looking to maintain those programs and solidify them more,” Hottois said.

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