Cape Partnership for Higher Education pleased with first year; second will have more courses

Except for a few glitches, the Cape Girardeau Partnership for Higher Education has earned an A in its first year, according to the major players at the helm of the institution.

And the partnership -- a "community college-like" initiative between Mineral Area College, Three Rivers College and Southeast Missouri State University -- is poised for significant enrollment growth as it enters the fall semester.

"I have been nothing but satisfied and pleased with the kind of cooperation and coordination we've had with the other partners," said Randy Shaw, Southeast's assistant provost of extended learning. "Little issues have come up along the way, but everyone has been committed to working through those."

The partnership, based at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center, enrolled 189 students in its opening semester of fall 2010, according to Tinea Ortega, academic adviser for the partnership. Enrollment grew to about 200 in the spring semester.

As of Wednesday, Ortega said, more than 200 students had signed up for courses, and projections are between 250 and 300 students will enroll. Some 100 students are attending the first summer session.

Last fall, the partnership offered about 30 classes; Ortega said more than 50 classes will be offered in the upcoming semester.

Given the territorial scuffles the three institutions of higher education have encountered over the years as competitors, the partnership, by all accounts, has proved an unqualified success.

The initiative, which serves the mission of a community college without the official status of a taxing district, aims to meet the general education requirements of Cape Girardeau area students who have long lived without a community college close by. Southeast and Three Rivers provide the general education instruction, with associate of arts degrees administered through Three Rivers and associate of applied science degrees issued through Mineral Area College.

Students completing the two-year program can seamlessly move into Southeast's baccalaureate degree programs or, administrators say, into just about any four-year public institution of higher education.

Partnership classes center on the core classes -- English, math, history, science. Classes have expanded to include accounting, business law, microeconomics and elementary education, one involving observation in elementary classrooms, Ortega said.

Wes Payne, Three Rivers' vice president for learning, acknowledged the partners had some difficult discussions early on about how the partnership would be forged, but it was an initiative that grew out of previous relationships between the three institutions.

After nearly a full year in operation, the partnership's minor complications, what Payne described as "lots of little gnats flying around," have been worked through by all of the players.

While the partnership is not tied to a taxing district, the institutions -- using some taxpayer money -- funded the startup costs.

Late last year, Payne and Shaw said the educational operations were close to breaking even, not counting startup costs. Payne said the shared operational costs, predominantly for salaries of two employees and part-time instructors, are about $75,000. He pegged the institution's startup costs at about $65,000.

On Wednesday, Payne could not provide a financial figure for the year but said the goal is to make the partnership self-sustaining -- something he projects will happen in the upcoming academic year.

Kathy Swan, vice chairwoman of the partnership's advisory board, said students have had to jump through some hoops on the financial aid front, particularly for those taking courses through two or more institutions, and some course work-related information online has been hard to navigate.

"Those are things we need to look at and address, because the last thing we want to do is make it difficult for students. That's why we began this to begin with," said Swan, who also serves on Missouri's Coordinating Board for Higher Education.

But Swan said the partnership, now moving into the second year of a three-year agreement, has exceeded her expectations. Student interest, she said, bears out the reason for the partnership: to serve a higher education market in Cape Girardeau County that previously was not served.

"We are fulfilling the need," said Swan, who also sees the partnership from her perspective as a member of the Cape Girardeau City Council. "I want us to continue to fill that need."

mkittle@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

1080 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, MO