Students stuck without program

Rod Cordle took a gamble on a new career when the St. Maries telephone pole business where he worked was sold to a competitor.

Cordle, who had a 13-year career as a yard supervisor, had a choice: He could stay on under new management or take money and go back to school.

Putting his financial security at risk, Cordle decided to enroll in North Idaho College’s Computer Information Technology program, called CITE.

Things haven’t worked out as he had hoped. Cordle’s personal finances have deteriorated to the point of filing for bankruptcy. And now the 49-year-old has found himself midway through a program that the college has unexpectedly axed.

Cordle is one of about two dozen NIC freshmen who won’t be able to complete their two-year programs.

“I’m not a quitter,” Cordle said Thursday. “I do have a goal in my life. My goal was to get a degree from NIC. Had I known what I know now, I would have gone to Moscow” to the University of Idaho.

When Cordle enrolled in the CITE program this winter to study Web design, there was no indication that it would end before he even made it to his sophomore year. There was no disclaimer in the college course book, no hint from teachers or NIC administration that the CITE program might be cut due to declining enrollment.

“The handbook may not be a binding legal contract,” Cordle said, “but it’s kind of like a handshake.”

Vice President for Instruction Jerry Gee said the college was forced to make the cuts because fewer students are enrolling in the CITE programs. The college reported that enrollment in the two CITE programs being eliminated – Web development and PC user support technician – dropped from 118 students in 2001 to 60 this fall.

He said the college is changing the curriculum to give students “a broader set of courses to prepare them in a larger set of areas” instead of being more specialized.

He said his office plans to meet with each student.

“We haven’t had a chance to sit down and talk with every student, so we don’t know what the options might be,” Gee said Thursday.

Cordle and three other students stood before NIC’s Board of Trustees on Wednesday asking the college to reconsider its decision to eliminate the two CITE degree options.

Dawn Jordan, a single mother who moved from Boise to pursue a degree in Web design, said the alternatives the college suggested to her aren’t viable options.

With the price of gas increasing, she said she wasn’t interested in commuting to Spokane Community College or any other school to continue her education. She told trustees she didn’t think online classes were comparable in quality to the classroom setting.

“We paid for an education,” Jordan said. “We signed up under an agreement.”

Tim Fort, a student who moved from Sandpoint to be closer to NIC, said the college’s method of breaking the news left much to be desired. Students were told about the changes on Advising Day, April 5, the day they were scheduled to sign up for the next semester’s classes.

“I would have expected better from the administration,” Fort said.

Students asked why they can’t just finish the program they started. Couldn’t the college phase out the program over the next year so they would have a chance to finish, they wondered.

Gee said Thursday that it was a difficult situation.

“We don’t really have the numbers,” Gee said. “That’s the reason we did the reduction. What it boils down to is do you then not take a freshman into the class?”

Cordle said the unexpected changes at school have caused a lot of stress. His wife, an operator with the phone company, is the family’s sole provider.

“Right now, my life is in turmoil,” he said. If he had the money, Cordle said, he’d pursue legal action against the college.

“I wouldn’t sue for money,” he said. “I’m not that type of person, but I think what they are doing is wrong.”