What does North Idaho College get in return for the $1 annual rent it charges Lewis-Clark State College for an on-campus location?

“Most importantly, it symbolizes cooperative delivery of education in Kootenai County,” said LCSC President James Hottois at Monday’s formal opening of the LCSC center on NIC’s campus.

Idaho Board of Education President Judith Meyer of Coeur d’Alene praised NIC, LCSC and the University of Idaho for improving North Idaho residents’ educational opportunities by heeding the state board’s instructions of two years ago.

“Cooperate, collaborate, collegiate,” Meyer said. “It’s tribute to the presidents of all three institutions that students who attend classes at any or all of the state’s institutions can expect the seamless system this board advocates.”

Under pressure from the state board, Idaho’s public colleges and universities have been scrambling to offer joint courses and ease transferring between schools.

Now, courses during the first two years at any of the state’s schools have common content and common class numbers so students don’t lose credits when they switch.

For example, a student can take two years at NIC for an associate nursing degree, then continue at LCSC in Coeur d’Alene for a four-year nursing degree.

LCSC has seven full-time employees in Coeur d’Alene and 20 part-time employees serving the region, many of them commuters. The school enrolls approximately 300 undergraduates in Coeur d’Alene annually - nearly 20 percent of the Lewiston college’s total enrollment.

LCSC’s new facility includes admissions, a 30-student classroom and a computer lab. Before, the school operated out of the GTE building on Wallace Avenue.

Now, with its location across the NIC library parking lot on River Avenue, students on the NIC campus are within walking distance of NIC, LCSC and UI programs.

NIC provides lower division (mostly core) classes, while LCSC and the University of Idaho offer upper division degrees in nursing, business, social work and education. The move constitutes a long-term commitment by both institutions, said NIC Interim President Ron Bell.

“It’s yet another opportunity for students to get a four-year education without the expense of having to move elsewhere.”

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