Agora
The Vol. 50, Issue 5
November 20, 2007
MONROE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
INSIDE Editorial.................................2 Campus News.......................3 The difference Feature.............................4&5 between men Community News.................6 and women.... 3 A&E........................................7 Spotlight................................8
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Pistons start strong with a 6-3 record .......................6
Black Friday brings holiday shopping..............4 Chocolate proves healthy side to consumers .....................5
for a
Change
Charging per contact hour explored By Jeffrey Kodysh
Editor-in-Chief
Monroe County Community College (MCCC) might join 23 other community colleges across Michigan in charging tuition by the contact hour instead of the credit hour. Timothy Bennett, MCCC treasurer and vice president of business affairs, explained at the Nov. 5 Administrative Council meeting that MCCC is considering converting tuition payment from credit hours to contact hours. “A task force has been formed consisting of reps from the business office, marketing, registration, data processing, instruction, and student services,” Bennett said. “Our charge from the president is to explore the possibility of such a conversion.” Contact hours represent the actual time the student spends in a class as opposed to credit hours, which are used to measure academic progress. According to Bennett, charging by contact hour is a more equitable way to charge tuition. “Unlike credit hours, contact hours represent the actual time a student spends in a class,” he said. “The premise is that this is a more accurate representation of the actual cost of that class, as opposed to charging a fee for
the class based on credit hours.” The change could have a large impact on MCCC classes requiring labs, such as health lab classes, lab science classes, and technology lab classes. According to the Administrative Council minutes, “The change would mean that any class meeting more hours per week than its number of credit hours would require additional payment. This would significantly affect students enrolled in health classes, lab science classes, and technology lab classes.” Dr. David Waggoner, Professor of Chemistry at MCCC said he wondered if his chemistry lab students could see a major increase in their tuition if the change is implemented. “People who take lab courses could get a big increase in tuition,” he said. “I don’t know if that is justified. Since I teach chemistry, it is going to end up costing my students more. I am not for it.” MCCC President Dr. David Nixon commented on the issue. “Every year at this time, we look at the budget needs and determine if it will be necessary next year to raise tuition and if so, how much?” Nixon said. State support has been lacking for community colleges. “This year we are looking to see
if there is a better strategy than raising tuition,” Nixon said. “In some cases, charging for the actual time faculty spend with the students (contact hours) may be the solution since faculty pay salaries are based on contact hours. So, that strategy of using a contact hour formula is being studied as one option.” According to Nixon, the Michigan legislature has trimmed $63 million from community college appropriations, a decrease of 20 percent. Many other community colleges across Michigan have begun charging by contact hours. Grand Rapids Community College is one of them, and sites fairness as a major factor in its reasoning to charge by the contact hour. “Charging by contact hour more fairly distributes tuition costs to students receiving extra instruction,” the college said on its Web site. “For example, a student taking an Economics class needs less contact time with an instructor than a student in a Culinary Arts class. Students will now pay for the amount of instruction time they receive.” According to the Administrative Council minutes MCCC has contacted other colleges for suggestions on implementing the possible change.
Agora illustration by Emily Chandonnet
Presentation highlights new nuclear technology degree By Jeffrey Kodysh Editor-in-Chief
Imagine a career with great pay, great benefits and for workers with the proper credentials, almost certain job placement rates. The nuclear industry offers workers all of these and more, according to the nuclear engineering technology information sessions held jointly between Monroe County Community College (MCCC), Lakeland Community College (LCC), and DTE energy on Nov. 15. LCC will, with cooperation from both MCCC and DTE, next semester offer a nuclear engineering technology degree to students on the MCCC campus. All classes for the degree will be taught on MCCC’s campus, but the degree itself will be awarded from LCC. MCCC students interested in pursuing the new nuclear technology degree will be dual-enrolled at both LCC and MCCC. DTE will then offer select students in the program summer internships at Fermi 2. “The collaboration of MCCC, LCC
and DTE Energy will address these needs [a need for nuclear workers] by focusing on educating and training both new and incumbent workers,” Dean of MCCC’s Industrial Technology Division Parmeshwar Coomar said in a MCCC press release. According to the presentation, nuclear based jobs will be plentiful as new plants are built to meet increasing demand. Electricity demand across America is projected to increase by 45 percent in the next 25 years, spurring utility companies to reinvest in new nuclear power plants. About 50,000 mega watts per year of nuclear power will need to be added in those 25 years in order to keep the amount of nuclear power generation constant with other forms of electrical production, such as coal and hydroelectric. Fermi 2 produces roughly around 1,000 mega watts per year. 30 percent of nuclear industry workers will retire within the next five years, compounding utility companies’ already tough problem of finding skilled workers. Among the numerous attendees of
the Nov. 15 event was Kara Blake, a wife, mother of three children and recent recipient of a Ford buyout. Blake thought attending the information sessions would be a good opportunity to learn more about the field of nuclear energy. While not sure if nuclear engineering technology is quite the field for her, she likes how it offers job security. “There will always be a high demand for electricity. People can always do without a car. They can not do without electricity,” she said. Marc Sidioti, a nuclear health physics employee at Fermi 2 and speaker at the information session, recommended the new program to people seeking long-term, well paying careers. “Just like the presentation said, the sky is the limit for a qualified nuclear worker. I have been in this industry for years and it is set to really start expanding,” he said. “The biggest advantage to working at Fermi 2 is that we can not be outsourced. Until we figure out how to ship power, the energy industry is here to stay.”
Right: Mark Hall explains registration procedures for the new dgree.
Below: Nuclear engineering technology degree information session attendees wait for the presentation to begin.
Agora photos by Jeffrey Kodysh