Community college searches for a place of its own 

College of Western Idaho is looking for spaces where it can consolidate its programs, now scattered around the Treasure Valley. (Photo by Glenn Landberg)

College of Western Idaho must move out of buildings it leases on the Boise State University campus, preferably by the summer of 2012. So CWI is seeking somewhere else to base its burgeoning professional-technical programs.

CWI officials are looking at empty space throughout the Treasure Valley between east Boise and Nampa and Caldwell.

“No options are off the table; beggars can’t be choosers,” said Jennifer Couch, a spokeswoman for CWI. But “it’s so expensive to move that we just want to do it once.”

Boise State agreed to lease its campus buildings to CWI after CWI took over Boise State’s technical programs in 2009.

Since then, enrollment at both places has soared. When the Nampa-based CWI started offering classes in January 2009 the Treasure Valley was the largest metropolitan area without a community college, and the pent-up demand was huge. CWI officials expect enrollment to exceed 10,000 by the end of next year. Boise State’s enrollment has grown every year, and now stands at 19,000.

The growth has left both institutions short of space.

CWI’s classes are offered at more than two dozen locations, including space donated by the Meridian School District and the for-profit George Fox University. There are 13 professional-technical programs on the Boise State campus. CWI offers other professional-technical programs in Caldwell, and has English language classes near the airport.

That means some students spend their day driving from one far-flung CWI location to another to attend classes. To make the college more efficient, CWI officials would like to consolidate all offerings into three general areas: one in east Boise, where CWI holds workforce trainings at Micron; one in a more central location, such as Boise or Meridian; and one in Canyon County, home to a large number of CWI students.

“We’re struggling with not becoming too fractured, with programs here and there,” said Craig Brown, CWI’s director of facilities planning. “That’s not a good way long-term to survive.”

The western campus is where CWI is based now, and will probably be its largest location in terms of square footage, Brown said. The college owns donated land there. This area would be the site for general education classes as well as many professional-technical programs.

The central campus would be CWI’s base for health programs, including PTE programs such as nursing, dental technology, and surgical technology, and workforce development like EMT training.

The third campus, in east Boise, would focus on business technology, Brown said.

College officials’ first priority is to move 12 of the 13 PTE programs – everything except horticulture – off the Boise State campus. CWI agreed to be out by 2012, and the site is also too small for CWI’s needs.

“The issue for CWI boils down to the inability to grow those programs because of the facilities,” Brown said.

Boise State intends to tear down most of those PTE buildings eventually, said James Maguire, Boise State’s associate vice president for planning and facilities. They’ll be replaced with a parking garage, a science building, and some athletic or recreational facilities.

To be out by summer 2012, the best time to move the PTE programs from Boise State would be summer 2011, when fewer programs are under way, Couch said.

Brown frequently gets calls from brokers and property owners who have heard that CWI is growing and are eager to offer land or buildings for sale or lease.

But “one of the first things I say when my phone rings is, ‘I have no money,’” Brown said. “And it’s absolutely true. That generally stops the conversation right there.”

But the search for space continues. CWI will never make the revenue it needs for capital improvements through its tuition, which at $129 per credit hour is the lowest in the valley for many programs. It has already used much of a $10 million start-up donation from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation given in 2008 and 2009, its largest donation to date.

But CWI has started a foundation and is putting together a foundation board in preparation for a capital campaign. There is some money in the foundation from the Albertson Foundation grant, and Brown thinks that charitable giving will pick up as the economy improves. The college will also be eligible for federal grants after it receives independent accreditation, a process that takes years.

Meanwhile, Brown is looking for businesses that want training partnerships with CWI. The school recently started working with the Georgia-based AgCo Corp. to provide a regional training center for advanced farming equipment. CWI also works with Micron Technology and with St. Luke’s and Saint Alphonsus Health Systems. And it’s providing training for security officers at the Boise airport.

In the absence of a large philanthropic windfall, CWI’s progress toward a three-campus system will take 20 years, Brown said.

“It will be slow, measured growth, and in some ways that is good,” Brown said. “You can only bite off so much at a time and effectively administer it.”

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One Response to “Community college searches for a place of its own ”

1. Jan Says:
   February 28th, 2011 at 11:12 am

   Lots of space available at the HP campus – centrally located in the valley – good parking…