Students say NWC service cuts are hurting them

Posted 11/14/19

At Monday’s Northwest College Board of Trustees meeting, three students voiced concerns over what they say is a diversion from the college’s student-centered focus.

The students …

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Students say NWC service cuts are hurting them

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At Monday’s Northwest College Board of Trustees meeting, three students voiced concerns over what they say is a diversion from the college’s student-centered focus.

The students specifically complained about reduced library hours and tutoring and issues with scholarships and remedial courses.

As Northwest College has struggled with falling enrollment — a trend across higher education institutions across the nation — it’s had to make budget cuts, which resulted in reductions in faculty, staff and student services.

Northwest President Stefani Hicswa, speaking after the meeting, said she appreciated the students’ feedback and assured them she and the board are listening. She also expressed the need for more state funding to address the cuts and avoid future ones.

Abigaile Grubb, an NWC political science major, said cuts to tutoring options and library services are increasing stress and undermining students’ ability to succeed. She said late-night study hours at the library were eliminated on Friday and Saturday, and only available until 11 p.m. on Sunday.

“These are the days most of our assignments are due, and also, decreases our ability to study for major assignments,” Grubb explained.

The late-night study hours are also limited to a smaller section of the library, which “crammed” students into a small space. Grubb said this harms students who study better in “isolated” conditions.

She also said, with the decrease in regular hours, students lose access to librarians.

“Librarians are crucial in helping us find resources and assisting us on assignments,” Grubb said.

Tutors for specific subjects are also now limited, which she said impacts students and deprives tutors of needed income.

“It does not appear to be a very ‘student centered’ decision,” she said, referring to the college’s mission of being student centered. Hicswa said, despite budget challenges, that mission has not changed.

“The heart of our mission is to be student centered and for that to be called into question is disheartening,” she said. “It is times like this that bring our mission into sharper focus and can bring us together as a community, if we are willing to walk a mile in each other’s shoes.”

Meanwhile, Christina Lacek, a former member of the NWC soccer team, told the board that promised athletic scholarships had been cut — and that student athletes only learned of the cuts after they committed to attending NWC.

“We are wasting athletic eligibility here, because we are trapped in contracts with broken promises of unawarded scholarship money,” she said.

Lacek also said turnover among the college’s coaching positions undermines the relationships between coaches and athletes.

Prior to the open forum portion of the meeting, when the students spoke, Board President Dusty Spomer said it’s the board’s practice to listen to the concerns expressed during the forum, but trustees don’t respond at the meeting. As such, the board only thanked the students for speaking. Afterward, Hicswa disputed Lacek’s claims about athletic scholarships.

“It’s ... important to clarify that institutional cuts to athletic scholarships this year were fully covered by the NWC Foundation, and all scholarship amounts included on signed NJCAA Letters of Intent are being honored,” she said.

Another student, Jordan Nelson, raised concerns about remedial math courses during the forum, saying that students were facing “multiple levels of bureaucracy.”

The classes are part of the college’s workforce development courses, which means they are non-credit training classes. They don’t count for most types of financial aid, and faculty don’t have to be credentialed to the same level as other faculty.

In order to move into the credited algebra classes, students have to pass placement exams, even after passing the remedial course. Nelson said these tests cost $25 each time they’re taken. Nelson said she works two jobs, and these costs were adding to the burden of other increasing costs.

“I’m fully self-funded, so it’s really hard to progress within my major when I have that impediment,” Nelson told the board.

Hicswa, in her comments, said these hardships students were facing were “unacceptable,” but the school would need more support from the state if these difficulties were to be remedied.

“When the current state funding model gives you no choice but to cut budgets, there is no easy way out,” she said. “We have work to do educating our state legislators on the impact of their decisions too.”

Hicswa added there were many avenues for students to bring these issues to the college’s attention, including appropriate faculty, staff, the student senate, and herself.

“Students are also valued members of college committees and their voices can have impact there too,” she said. “Kudos to those students for speaking up — we are listening.”

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