×
×
homepage logo
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE

NCC-Granite State College partnership a smart approach

By Staff | Jul 31, 2012

When Ross Gittell met with our editorial board last month, the new chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire spoke at length about the challenge of making state residents aware of the many benefits the state’s two-year community colleges have to offer.

We don’t believe it’s much of a stretch to suggest that what transpired last week in Nashua is precisely what he had in mind.

On Thursday, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Gov. John Lynch, it was announced that Nashua Community College will become home this fall to a satellite campus for Granite State College.

Nashua will become the second Granite State location to be housed on the campus of a community college; the Berlin campus at White Mountains Community College is the other.

“This is a dream come true,” said Lucille Jordan, president of Nashua Community College, at the ceremony. “This is about access and about getting people on their way toward the American dream.”

Access as in geography and affordability.

Under the new arrangement, NCC students who complete their two-year associate’s degree will have the option of staying put on campus for another two years to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business management, psychology, applied studies or individualized studies. Graduate studies and teacher certification courses also will be
available at the Nashua campus.

This agreement could be of particular interest to those NCC graduates who want to pursue a four-year degree but would prefer to do so closer to home because of family, a job or other considerations – especially if one of those “other considerations” is cost.

Currently, Granite State College is home to the least expensive bachelor’s degree program in the state, charging $285 per credit for in-state students.

To put that figure into some perspective, the University of New Hampshire charges $570 per credit hour – or two times as much – Keene State College $440 per credit hour and Plymouth State University $435.

The seeds for this innovative collaboration were planted about a year ago, shortly after Todd Leach assumed the presidency of Granite State College in the summer of 2010. He and Jordan began working on a partnership that would make some bachelor’s and master’s programs available to Greater Nashua residents at a reasonable cost.

For now, they are committed to a three-year pilot program, but they are hopeful it will grow into something that can be here for years to come.

While this is all new for Nashua, it’s the ninth such operation for the Concord-based Granite State College. The school – one of four public institutions that make up the University System of New Hampshire – operates satellite campuses in Berlin, Claremont, Conway, Lebanon, Littleton, Manchester, Portsmouth, Rochester and now Nashua.

The college attracts students from 32 states and the District of Columbia, but the vast majority of its 4,500 students – 91 percent – live in New Hampshire. Perhaps more importantly to the state’s employers, 92 percent of its graduates remain in New Hampshire..

As Gittell made clear to us, it’s absolutely imperative for the state’s community colleges to emerge as leaders in innovation and to shed the stigma traditionally associated with two-year colleges.

Partnerships like the one unveiled here last week are certainly a big step in the right direction.

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

Interests
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *