Ccs Could Draw Extra $2 Million By Adding College Institute For Extended Learning May Become College

The Community Colleges of Spokane could bring in another $2 million annually in state money if it added one more college to the two it already has.

That would be the motive behind creating a college out of the Institute for Extended Learning, which provides off-campus education programs and services in six Eastern Washington counties, said Charles Taylor, chancellor of the Community Colleges of Spokane.

“If we don’t do something, we will continue to lose ground as rural communities ask for more services and the Legislature makes us provide more services,” Taylor said.

Taylor was speaking to more than 100 faculty and staff members of Spokane Community College on Thursday, trying to explain several controversial initiatives that have gone forward since he took office last July.

Last week, faculty at Spokane Falls Community College raised concerns that a third college might siphon students, staff and money away from the two that already exist.

“If we add anything, we don’t want to pull resources from the current colleges,” Taylor said.

A task force is meeting to examine the feasibility of creating a third college, and Taylor invited faculty to get involved.

While demands on IEL continue to grow, it doesn’t get any of the funding benefits that recognized colleges get from the Legislature.

This despite IEL’s full-time student enrollment being equal to one-third of the state’s community colleges, Taylor said.

“Right now, our system has close to the same number of full-time-equivalent students as the Seattle Community College district,” Taylor said. “However, they are funded on the basis of having three separate colleges, while we are only funded for two.”

The third-college concept was supposed to have been carried forward by Ron Bell, who served as interim chancellor before Taylor.

Bell was most likely going to be hired as a consultant by CSS to deal with the issue, Taylor said.

When Bell died last December, that put the project in Taylor’s lap.

Taylor, who had faced an acrimonious crowd of faculty at Spokane Falls Community College, got a warmer reception at SCC on Thursday. At the end, the audience applauded.