ROCK SPRINGS — Western Wyoming Community College continues to face economic challenges, but it has a lot to celebrate.

Western President Kirk Young spoke with residents and students Tuesday evening about the progress happening at the college. The progress report highlighted several issues the college is navigating, while showcasing some highlights.

Funding Challenges Continue to be Worked On

Young said a phone call with Sweetwater County Assessor Dave Divis was what started the second round of layoffs and position closures announced in March. Nine positions total, five of which had employees attached to them, were targeted in the reductions. Young said the reductions won’t impact programs students are currently enrolled in.

Young said the county’s assessed valuation is declining by about $2 billion, which leads to revenue reductions for the college amounting to an estimated $1.1 million. Along with more than $928,000 lost from property tax exemptions, the college faces further budgetary shortfalls if the proposed initiative to reduce property tax by 50% is approved by voters this November. Young said the college will lose an estimated $1 million in revenue if it succeeds. The proposed initiative would eliminate approximately $5 million in revenue throughout the state’s community college, according to the Wyoming Community College Commission

Those revenue reductions come as the college board works to wean the college budget from relying on cash carryover and reserves for a balanced budget and improve salaries to employees. He said the college board utilized reserve funds to balance its budget for years and a fear has grown that if it continues, the college won’t have a reserve fund to handle emergency costs. A college reserve is typically between 5% and 15% of its operating budget and Young says reserves have nearly been spent to that range.

“We have more than that, but we’re getting close to that point where we can’t do that anymore,” he said. 

The improved salary discussion started before Young was hired, but implementing the plan that resulted was one of the mandates Young received when he was hired. He said $1.6 million will be used to fund compensation adjustments for employees, saying the college had a problem with salary compression where people would be hired at the lower end of their salary scale and not increase their salary as the employees built longevity and experience in their roles. He said that resulted in situations where new hires were being hired at higher starting salaries than employees who had been at the college for decades. 

Athletics and Theater Drive Community Engagement, a Key Goal for Western

“The college needs to be a place where people gather,” Young said. 

Young highlighted the college’s athletics and theater programs as being drivers for visitation to the college. Western hosted its Wild West Showdown, a dual between the University of Wyoming and Western’s wrestling teams last year, raising $30,000 for student activities through 1,500 tickets sold. Athletics in general drive engagement, with the college reporting soccer having 100-150 spectators per match, basketball attracting 150-200 people, and wrestling averaging between 300-500, though Young admits that includes the Wild West Showdown numbers in the average.

Theater attendance was also highlighted. “The Music of the Muppets,” “Man of La Mancha,” “Holmes for the Holidays,” and “Seussical” brought 2,998 people to Western across 17 shows, with “Seussical” attracting an audience of 1,305 over six shows itself. “Seusical” also brought 1,873 elementary and high school students to the college through special student matinees.

Other community events have also seen success as the college. The college previously reported more than 1,000 people visited the college during its annual Chili Cook-Off. 

While Enrollment is Down from Peak Years, Western Sees an Uptick

Young said the college’s enrollment is up 12% over the last two years, with the college prepared to award 460 credentials to students at its upcoming May commencement. Young said in New York, where he previously worked, flat enrollment year over year would be worth celebrating as maintaining enrollment is a challenge for a lot of colleges. This growth comes following a 30% decline in Western’s enrollment during the last 10 years. Programs such as the college’s powerline technology program and its Bachelor of Applied Science degrees have gained popularity since their launch. Young said Western’s BAS offerings have seen a 6% increase.

Young also said the rate of change occurring in higher education is exponential, saying Western is much further ahead in offering courses through different “delivery models,” than other colleges. 

Student Mental Health Services have Not Gone Away

Mental health has been a topic at Western Wyoming Community college since the passing of Meeka Iwen, a student who died by suicide earlier this year. Young said mental health hasn’t been a service community colleges have traditionally offered, but have increasingly taken on as the need has grown. 

Despite recent reorganization impacting employees offering mental health care, Young says the college still offers mental health services to students.

“Those services have not gone away, and they’re actually going to be better,” Young said.

He said the college will have a fulltime counselor starting soon who will focus on providing services for a full 40-hour week. He said the college’s previous counselor administrator position allowed it to offer counseling services, but half of the position’s time was spent with administrative duties. Under the reorganization those administrative pieces of the job were shifted to the Student Life Office. 

A student asked about a perceived gap in mental health offerings when the previous mental health provider left the college after being involved in the college’s initial job reorganization and layoffs. Young said the college couldn’t legally hire a provider for 90 days after the reorganization even though that employee left before the period ended. He said the college contracted with a mental health provider to give students access to care during that coverage gap.

Some Good Legislation Came Out of the Wyoming Legislature

Young said he’s happy with legislative moves that increased the Hathaway Scholarship awards and a $20 million earmark for dual and concurrent enrollment for the upcoming budget biennium. Hathaway awards were increased by 40.5% during the session, leading to higher scholarships for Wyoming high school seniors. According to Senate File 47’s fiscal note, the Hathaway Provisional Opportunity Scholarship and Hathaway Opportunity Scholarship will increase from $840 to $1,180 per semester, the Hathaway Performance Scholarship will increase from $1,260 to $1,770 per semester, and the Hathway Honors Scholarship will increase from $1,680 to $2,360 per semester. The maximum Hathaway Need Based Scholarship, for students other than Hathaway Honors Scholarship awardees, will increase from a maximum of $1,575 to $2,120 per year and a minimum of $105 to $150 per year. The increases take effect July 1.

Young said the dual and current enrollment funding will go to school districts and aims to reimburse high school students for taking college courses. In Sweetwater County, high school students benefit from a similar arrangement. Young said Sweetwater BOCES covers the cost of tuition for high school students. He said Western plans to find ways of accessing some of the state funding.