By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
NCK Tech President Eric Burks had plenty of good news to share with Hays city commissioners last week as he presented the college’s annual report of the Big Creek Technical Training Center.
The city-owned facility, located at 101 Main, is a partnership between NCK Tech and the city of Hays. The college is responsible for maintaining the building interior and mechanical condition in exchange for free rent. NCK Tech students also perform various carpentry, electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning projects as requested by the city.
Burks is also president of the Kansas Association of Technical Colleges. There are seven technical colleges in Kansas. Burks recently testified in Topeka before the Higher Education Budget Committee, of which Rep. Eber Phelps (D-Hays) is the ranking minority member.
In response to a state funding question from Vice-Mayor James Meier, Burks told commissioners since Fiscal Year 2011 the two-year Kansas technical colleges “have grown 36.9%. We’ve produced 25.7% more degrees and certificates. We have placed 90% of those students into jobs, and 90% of those jobs are in the state of Kansas. So, you’re getting a heck of an investment…a little over $11 for every $1 that’s invested.”
Technical colleges have no taxing authority in Kansas.
“Our entire sector costs $21.6 million to the state,” Burks said, noting he had given the same information to the legislative committee. “But during that same time since FY 2011, they’ve decreased our funding over 11%. And now, we hearing threats of another 6.95% cut. Our problem is we keep doing more with less. That’s what education does and that’s what rural Kansas does. We find a way to do things with less because we have to. But there’s a breaking point. If we don’t find a way to get some more money, we’re going to have some problems,” he predicted.
“Community colleges do have taxing authority in the state. “They can go and raise property taxes. We can’t. We have to put it on the backs of our students,” explained Burks, “or find ways to be more efficient. We try not to put it on the backs of our students, but that’s what we’re relegated to doing.”
When technical colleges first opened in Kansas, according to Burks “students were supposed to pay 15% of their education costs and the remaining 85% was supposed to be paid by state reimbursements. It’s about 50/50 now,” he said.
Burks also reported NCK Tech was ranked seventh in the nation in 2014 among two-year public colleges, with a 70.7% graduation rate within 150% of the normal time to earn a degree. The assessment was reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The seven-year Big Creek Technical Training Center partnership has so far trained 353 full-time students, with 79% of the students who’ve completed a program employed in a related field. Most of the graduates are working and living in and around Hays and Beloit, site of the original NCK Tech campus.
Carpentry students in Hays recently constructed directional signs made of cedar wood for the Parks Department. Electrical Technology students are currently assisting with the remodel of the concession stands at Stramel Ball Park. They will also be replacing worn out equipment at Seven Hills Park, Kiwanis Park and Union Pacific Railroad Park. Plumbing, Heating and Air-Conditioning students will soon be assisting with repairs at the Hays Fire Department training facility.