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Crowder College is one small step closer to building a campus in McDonald County.
During their Thursday morning meeting, board members selected Pellham Phillips Architects Engineers as architect for the proposed building.
Four firms submitted designs for the Crowder contest and after questioning them, reviewing them and getting input from around campus ,the committee decided on Pellham Phillips.
Boardmember Jim Tatum moved that they waive the first reading and employ the architect. He and board president Andy Wood have talked with more than 50 groups in the area. All had a favorable view of the building and Tatum said they needed more details from the architect to begin fundraising.
Pellham Phillips was chosen, said Ron Granger, dean of Business and Support Services, for their use of native materials and the fit of the building with the land.
“Everything that Crowder does is what this is,” Granger said. “The building is McDonald County. We didn’t want to make it so it looked institutional. We just felt like it looked like what we would want and the way that it’s set up on the inside just very easy to navigate.”
Sketches show a nearly 38,000-square-foot building clad in cypress siding with a rooftop garden. Plans call for it to be Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certified. The building would house classrooms, labs and nursing facilities, and although the outside is strung together like a series of blocks, the interior calls for a curvy walkway wrapping around a central student center.
“You’re building some pride here,” Tatum said of the building’s design.
The building would be in Jane on property the college has already purchased. It would cost an estimated $6 million, money the school does not have set aside for its construction.
With the health science building under construction and hopes that construction on the Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology Center will start soon on the Neosho campus, boardmember Rick Butler urged caution.
“We keep saying we have reserves and I can’t help but think that even though it’s earmarked that some of those will be used on both of those construction projects,” Butler said.
The MARET center will be partially funded by a set of Department of Energy grants that the school hopes will come through soon.
Some of the reserves, Butler pointed out, may be needed to fill funding gaps in its construction and others for state and federal funding cuts.
Crowder College is one small step closer to building a campus in McDonald County.
During their Thursday morning meeting, board members selected Pellham Phillips Architects Engineers as architect for the proposed building.
Four firms submitted designs for the Crowder contest and after questioning them, reviewing them and getting input from around campus ,the committee decided on Pellham Phillips.
Boardmember Jim Tatum moved that they waive the first reading and employ the architect. He and board president Andy Wood have talked with more than 50 groups in the area. All had a favorable view of the building and Tatum said they needed more details from the architect to begin fundraising.
Pellham Phillips was chosen, said Ron Granger, dean of Business and Support Services, for their use of native materials and the fit of the building with the land.
“Everything that Crowder does is what this is,” Granger said. “The building is McDonald County. We didn’t want to make it so it looked institutional. We just felt like it looked like what we would want and the way that it’s set up on the inside just very easy to navigate.”
Sketches show a nearly 38,000-square-foot building clad in cypress siding with a rooftop garden. Plans call for it to be Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certified. The building would house classrooms, labs and nursing facilities, and although the outside is strung together like a series of blocks, the interior calls for a curvy walkway wrapping around a central student center.
“You’re building some pride here,” Tatum said of the building’s design.
The building would be in Jane on property the college has already purchased. It would cost an estimated $6 million, money the school does not have set aside for its construction.
With the health science building under construction and hopes that construction on the Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology Center will start soon on the Neosho campus, boardmember Rick Butler urged caution.
“We keep saying we have reserves and I can’t help but think that even though it’s earmarked that some of those will be used on both of those construction projects,” Butler said.
The MARET center will be partially funded by a set of Department of Energy grants that the school hopes will come through soon.
Some of the reserves, Butler pointed out, may be needed to fill funding gaps in its construction and others for state and federal funding cuts.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I’d be the first person to turn a spade of dirt down there.”
Diane Andris noted that the building’s construction was contingent on being able to raise money privately.
“That’s why we have to employ this architectural firm so we can stand in front of a professional foundation with details that are meaningful and right now we just can’t do it any other way,” Tatum said.
Outlay for the architect expenses prior to construction should be less than 8 percent of the total, Granger told the board, and they unanimously approved employing Pellham Phillips.
Labs and classrooms are both full at Crowder, and in addition to being more convenient for McDonald County students, the hope is that the additional building will ease overcrowding at the Neosho campus.
“McDonald County is sure going to help us,” said college president Alan Marble, “That’s why we’re going to build it.”
Budget update
The board followed construction discussion with an update on the school’s budget.
Nearly 10 years ago the school received $4,997,000 in state appropriations, but inflation has gone up. If the 2001-2002 numbers were adjusted the school has lost even more state funding.
“If we just kept up with inflation it would be $6 million [this year],” Marble said.
In 2010-2011, the school received $4,348,000 in state appropriations after a 5.2 percent cut.
The number of students has also increased dramatically. In 2001-2002 there were 1,836 students; last fall there were 4,778. Credit hours have also grown.
“Ten years ago we were getting $130.41 per credit hour, from the state,” Marble said. “We weren’t funding on a per-credit-hour reimbursement, but if you just did the math that’s what you’d get. This year it’s going to be $46.50.”
Other colleges are cutting low-enrollment classes, but Crowder’s classes are full. Universities have raised the cost of their graduate degrees, but an agreement between colleges and the governor froze tuition rates for another year. The school’s tax base has grown, but at the state level they are anticipating cuts of 15, 20 or 25 percent.
“If we get that 25 percent cut it [revenue from the state] will be equal to our local tax,” Granger said.
They estimate state funding will be 7 to 8 percent of their total budget. Once the state promised 30 to 50 percent.
“We don’t know what the cuts will be next year, but I wanted to get it out in front of you, Marble told the board.
The school is looking for ways to cut expenses, add grants and entrepreneurial programs, raise private funds and – eventually – some of the costs will be passed on to students. Marble has been advised to consider state cuts to the college’s budget as permanent.
“Sadly, we’re going to have to look at tuition and fees,” Marble said.
Those rates will be reviewed in the spring for the fall semester.
