NIC President hosts first monthly chat

NIC President Rick MacLennan held his first monthly chat on Tuesday with topics ranging from how the state is changing their funding programs to the Master Plans for the college in future years.

The State of Idaho is moving away from EWA (Enrollment Workload Adjustment) a model that was based on enrollment data. The state is choosing instead to Pursue Outcomes based funding, focusing on who graduates or transfers from the college. This has its benefits, including $600,000 – $900,000 extra funding for NIC. The plan also splits funding to each degree program based on how successful they are.

NIC Staff inside the meeting had mixed reactions, mostly concerned with how it will affect their students. President MacLennan said that there shouldn’t be any issues, unless the Idaho Congress decides not to fund the new program.

NIC President Rick MacLennan fields questions from concerned Instructors

There was also a discussion on how best to extend assistance for those technical students who aren’t at a proficient level for their programs. Student Support Services can currently only help students who are in a transfer program.

Other plans discussed were the campus Master Plan and the new NICE Building.

The new NICE Building will add 8 new classrooms for NIC as well as for University of Idaho and Lewis and Clark State College. NIC is almost ready to break ground on a new expansion to Meyer’s Health and Sciences to add extra Lab Space, but they need to recieve cost estimates and auction the project to a construction company.

President MacLennan plans on presenting the full Master Plan to the public at his monthly chat next month.