Dr. Mark Erickson, president of Northampton Community College, appeared before the BASD Finance committee to present the college’s proposed 2018-19 budget.

Erickson spoke in great depth about the success of the college in recent years. Although community college attendance has been on the decline throughout the country, NCC has been holding solid in enrollment numbers. Erickson attributes this success to the college’s affordability; at $4,320 in annual tuition and the largest private scholarship funding of any community college, for many students NCC reaches to students who otherwise would not have a fair chance at higher education.

In 2017, BASD saw 2048 of their graduates continue on to NCC, with 58.6% of those students being female, and 48% of the students being minorities. NCC continues to reach out to BASD students through their college readiness courses, in a further attempt to help students transition from high school to college.

Reviewing the career pathways available at the college, the board noted that NCC continues to align with the current pathways offered at Liberty and Freedom high schools. Just as BASD is working on the Project Lead the Way program at Freedom, NCC is working on finishing their Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Both share a similar vision for integrating technology and hands on fabrication, to transform students into valuable employees for local industry. One local business, Victaulic, has partnered with the college to create a company specific training center, where students are offered the opportunity to learn, grow and eventually gain employment with the company.

It appears that this approach of combining affordable classroom education at with hands on training, has positioned NCC to continue to climb the rankings in the country. The Aspen Institute ranks the college in the top 150 community colleges in the U.S., and the technology programming has landed in the top 10 for the past four years.

Dr. Dean Donaher of the board commended the college on not only the work they are doing, but also in the skills that are being taught, and the rest of the board members agreed that NCC is a valuable community partner. The presentation ended with the proposed increased budgets from each of the participating school districts. BASD board members were relieved to note that BASD had one of the smallest increases, at only .56 percent which figures to $13,496 for the school year.