VGCC Trustees Discuss Budget Crisis, Request Bids On New Classroom Building

There is no good news on the state budget and its effect on community colleges, Vance-Granville Community College President Robert A. Miller told the VGCC Board of Trustees at their semi-monthly meeting May 20.

The trustees expressed their concerns about state and local budgets and how they will affect Vance-Granville’s ability to train people. Miller expressed their concern when he said, “Because of the state’s economic crisis, it appears that funding of community colleges will be cut, and this comes at a time when people are looking to us to train them for the new jobs that will, hopefully, get us out of this economic slump.”

Vance-Granville Community College’s enrollment has grown 45 percent in the past four years, Miller pointed out. Enrollment for the first day of summer term on May 20 was 19 percent above last summer’s enrollment, which was 24 percent higher than the previous year.

“Summer enrollment is usually a sign of what the fall will bring,” Miller said. “If this continues, we face the possibility of telling students we cannot accept them because we cannot afford to add the classes and the programs they need. We cannot weather major cuts to our funding and continue to expand our services. The need is outstripping our resources.”

“Vance-Granville simply cannot be the institution to serve everyone without the money to pay for it,” Miller concluded. “There has to be some relief.”

CONSTRUCTION BIDS

Chairman David Brooks of the Building Committee told the trustees that plans for the new classroom building on the main campus have been approved by the State Construction Office, and the project has gone out for bids. Bids are to be opened June 13, and the board authorized the Building Committee to accept the lowest qualified bids and proceed with construction.

Planned is a 50,000 square foot, three-story classroom building, the first of four planned from bond money allocated to Vance-Granville Community College from the Higher Education Facilities bonds approved in November 2000. A building is planned later at each of the three VGCC satellite campuses, in Warren, Granville and Franklin counties.

DAY CARE RATE HIKE

The board approved a $10 per-month increase in fees for the Day Care Center on the main campus and the Child Care Center at the Franklin County Campus.

Effective July 1, fees will increase to $420 per month for 1 year-olds and to $390 per month for 2-5 year-olds. Fees for youngsters enrolled on a part-time basis in the centers are prorated.

The child care centers on the two campuses have both earned five-star ratings, the highest awarded by the state.

NEW DEAN APPOINTMENT

President Miller announced that Gene Purvis has been promoted to Dean of Student Services, effective July 1. He has served as assistant dean since September 1995.

Purvis earned a Bachelor of Science from Appalachian State University and a Master’s in Education from North Carolina State University. He was a vocational counselor at VGCC and served as coordinator of Financial Aid before becoming assistant dean. He lives in Butner with his wife, Amy, and daughters Dana, Keri and Alli.

AGREEMENTS WITH HIGH SCHOOLS

The trustees approved Cooperative Program Agreements with Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties to provide curriculum courses in 2002-2003 to qualified high school students. These are courses that can be used as high school elective credit, as well as college credit at the community college level.

High school principals in the four counties requested the courses, the same as provided during the past school year. Courses provided will be cosmetology and criminal justice technology in Vance and Granville counties; cosmetology, electrical installation, welding, criminal justice technology and college transfer in Franklin County; and cosmetology, electrical installation and criminal justice technology in Warren County.

In the photo above, Vice Chairman Donald C. Seifert Sr., who presided at the May 20 meeting of the Vance-Granville Community College Board of Trustees, presents a plaque to Julie Rollins, outgoing president of the school’s Student Government Association and student representative to the Board of Trustees during the past school year. Rollins, a Youngsville resident, graduated May 11 with an Associate in Applied Science in Radiography and is employed in the X-Ray Department of Duke University Hospital.