Skip to content

KC drops LPN program here

Five days after a number of residents implored Kaskaskia College not to discontinue the licensed practical nursing program at KC’s Vandalia Campus, the KC Board of Trustees took that action.

At a meeting on Monday, the KC Board voted unanimously to consolidate all of its LPN classes, including the ones currently being offered in Vandalia, at the college’s news Nursing Education Center on KC’s main campus.
Through that action, all LPN classes at the Vandalia Campus will conclude at the end of the fall semester in December.
During a special KC Board meeting held last Wednesday at the KC Vandalia Campus, KC President Dr. Penny Quinn told a crowd of about 50 people that two factors led college officials to make that proposal – declining enrollment at the Vandalia Campus and significant decreases in funding from the state due to recent budget impasses.
Those in the audience for that meeting included local city and school officials, health care representatives and a group of KC nursing students.
On the first of two issues that led to the proposal, Quinn said that the number of Vandalia area students applying and admitted to the LPN program has declined by almost 50 percent since 2011.
The college has been able to continue offering the three-semester, 44-hour LPN program at the Vandalia Campus, she said, because of students residing outside the area.
In the past five years, she said, 31 Vandalia area students – an annual average of about six new students – have been admitted to the LPN program.
The cost of an instructor for that program over that period, Quinn said, has been about $500,000.
The benefits of consolidating the LPN classes at the new KC nursing center, she said, include improved communication among students, faculty and staff; students’ direct access to specialized tutoring; and students’ use of the new nursing simulation lab and other state-of-the-art equipment.
The negatives of the change include: requiring students from the Vandalia area to drive to the nursing center in Centralia; “concerns of community members and donors who prefer local LPN delivery; decreases in activity and credit-hour production at the Vandalia Campus; and a potential decrease in commuters at the local campus using local businesses.
During her PowerPoint presentation, Quinn showed that enrollment at KC peaked at 115,257 credit hours during fiscal year 2010. In the following six fiscal years, enrollment dropped in all but one.
The projected fiscal year 2016 total is 87,998 credit hours and for the next fiscal year, it’s projected at 80,078.
The summer credit hour total is down by 23 percent (1,960), resulting in a loss of $292,000 from tuition and fees. An estimated decrease of 3.5 percent for the fall means another $90,000 loss in tuition and fees.
The Vandalia KC Campus enrollment peaked at 7,760 credit hours in fiscal year 2010, Quinn said. It continued to decline since then, with the projected total for fiscal year 2016 being 2,911.
Potential reasons for the declines, she said, include: a national trend in declining college enrollment; the availability of online courses available through various sources; and changes to state and federal financial aid programs at a time when 67 percent of students rely on financial assistance.
Again, Quinn said, the “tipping point” was the state budget impasse, with the budget impasse causing students to be hesitant about attending in-state institutions and news of the college’s budget deficit and personnel layoffs.
On the affect of the state budget on KC’s finances, Quinn said that community colleges received 73 percent less funding in fiscal year 2016 than it did in FY2015 and for FY2017, the allocation is 59 percent lower than in FY2015.
Quinn said that state monies fund 30-40 percent of KC’s operating budget, and that the allocation of $3.7 million in both FY2016 and FY2017 is $6.3 million below the anticipated amount in each of the two years.
That’s a $12.6-million loss in two years, she said.
Quinn said that the college’s cost-cutting measures to date have included the elimination of more than 60 positions and institutionally funded student workers losing their assignments.
Also, she said, two academic programs have been closed, four athletic teams are funding their operational expenses and the college has gone to a four-day work week.
Quinn said that the college can revisit the LPN program issue for the local campus, but “we need significantly more students (from the Vandalia area) … and we’re not even getting applications.
“The interest level is just not there,” she said.
The college’s director of nursing, Janet Garrettson, said that other places have discontinued their LPN programs, and one reason for such a decision is that some hospitals no longer hire LPNs, instead hiring those holding or committing to earn a bachelor’s degree.
In five years, she said, “LPNs, I feel, will still have a place, but the numbers will be different. There will always be some kind of job (for LPNs).”
Quinn said, “Any new things we want to do, our hands are pretty much tied, and it’s not just for this next year; it’s going to be several years before we can dig out of the situation that the state has put us in.”
Vandalia Mayor Rick Gottman was among those speaking out against the move, and he asked that the KC Board table the matter and take more time to study the situation.
Gottman said that the previous president, Dr. James Underwood, talked about “how Kaskaskia College was growing and we’ve got money, and we’re doing this and we’re doing that.
“My question is, what happened to all of the money?” Gottman said.
The mayor said he is concerned about the viability of the college. “It sounds like someone’s been asleep at the wheel.”
In response, KC Board member Kelly Bennett said the college “was enthusiastic” about the Vandalia campus and the promise of state money for an addition to the campus.
Two governors, Bennett said, promised that community colleges would continue to receive the same amount of funding.
Then, after July 1 of last year, he said, “We not only didn’t get flat funding, we didn’t get any funding.
“And, suddenly, we found that we were $11 million in arrears. Where did that money go? I think you have to ask state government where that went,” Bennett said.
He said that the college has had to reduce expenses, “invade our reserves,” borrow money and use working cash “just to stay afloat.
“We’re trying to prevent any harm we can,” Bennett said. “We think it’s temporary, but how long is it going to go on?
He said that the college loses money on some of its programs, including nursing, “But that’s OK.
“By consolidating, we are trying to cut some of those losses and keep those programs,” he said.
In response to Underwood’s statements about the growth of the college, Bennett said that when Underwood talked about growth, he was comparing enrollment figures of 2010 compared to those from 2001.
Quinn said that due to the financial situation, she has had to make some very tough decisions, including cutting jobs. But those decisions are necessary, she said.
“My goal is to get us through our fiscal situation,” Quinn said.
Bennett said, “We have every intention of weathering the storm.”
Near the end of the meeting, Vandalia Superintendent of Schools Rich Well asked Jack Johnston, a Vandalia attorney who serves on the KC Foundation Board and co-chaired fundraising efforts for the Vandalia Campus, his opinion of the KC proposal.
“I’ve always felt that education was the most important thing for our community,” he said, citing his reason for getting involved with the foundation.
“I’ve always felt that the administration and faculty have done an outstanding jobs of spending our money,” Johnston said.
“I don’t like the picture that they have, but I’m more concerned about the long-term viability (of the campus),” he said.
“But I don’t see (this) as an earth-shaking event.
“I support anything that needs to be done (for the good of the college and Vandalia Campus),” he said.
Well told Quinn that he understands what the college is going through, because the local school district was in the same situation several years ago.
As for those who attended the Wednesday special meeting, Well said, “The best thing we could do as a group was to declare our passion for the nursing program.
“We want you to know that we are suffering with you,” Well said.
 

A group of local residents – including city, health care and school officials – hears the reasons for discontinuing the licensed practical nursing program at the KC Vandalia campus during a special meeting of the KC Board of Trustees last Wednesday.

Dr. Penny Quinn, president of Kaskaskia College, explains the reasons for discontinuing the licensed practical nursing program at the Vandalia Campus during a special KC Board meeting last Wednesday at the Vandalia facility.

Leave a Comment