Since opening in fall 2010, the Cape College Center has established itself as a solid education alternative for area residents seeking to take lower-division college courses.
But with plans to move into a new facility and greater visibility, local educators believe even more students will enroll.
The center, originally established as the Cape Girardeau Partnership for Higher Education, is housed in the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center (CTC), 1080 S. Silver Springs Rd.
But the center is scheduled to move to a new building on the same campus next year.
The Cape Girardeau School District, which owns the CTC, recently broke ground on construction of a $3.8 million, 25,000-square-foot building just east of the career center on a former parking lot.
The project is part of a package of school district improvements included in a $20 million bond issue approved by voters last spring.
The Cape College Center will lease space in the new building, said Rich Payne, director of the career and technology center. The building will have eight classrooms, three computer labs, one health-care lab and one science lab.
It will not only serve the Cape College Center, it also will house the CTC's physical therapy assistant program and ultimately other health-care programs, Payne said.
Construction should be completed by next March, with the first classes expected in the building by fall 2017, he said.
The CTC and the Cape College Center will have their names displayed on signage along Silver Springs Road and on the new building itself, Payne said.
"We have come a long way with it," Payne said of the college center.
The center is operated through a partnership of Southeast Missouri State University, Three Rivers College and Mineral Area College.
Gerald McDougall, associate provost for extended learning at Southeast, said the new building will give Cape College Center a greater physical presence. In addition, the partnership plans to launch a promotional effort to give the higher-education program greater visibility.
"We are looking to market it more," he said.
The center changed its name in 2014 to better reach to students.
It's not a community college or a four-year university, but the Cape College Center allows students to pursue post-high school education that prepares them for the workforce or continuing education, local educators said.
Like a community college, the center has an open-enrollment admission policy.
It also is less costly than attending Southeast, officials said. The cost is $173 per credit hour, according to the center's website. A student taking 30 credit hours over the course of an academic year would pay $5,190 in tuition.
In addition, 20 of the students enrolled at the center last fall benefited from the state's A+ Program, which provides free tuition to eligible students enrolled in community-college classes.
By comparison, the cost is $233 per credit hour for in-state students to attend Southeast's main campus.
In fall 2010, 183 students were enrolled in 29 classes. In fall 2015, 226 students were enrolled. The center offered 40 classes at the CTC and another five classes online, McDougall said.
In all, 185 students were pursuing a two-year associate of arts degree last fall, taking classes offered by Three Rivers and Southeast. Another 41 students were enrolled in classes for associate of applied science degrees offered by Mineral Area.
Those pursuing associate of arts degrees take basic classes in such subjects as math and science, which allow them to transfer to Southeast or another four-year institution to continue their education, McDougall said. He estimated 30 to 35 students transfer from the Cape College Center to Southeast each term.
Last fall, 187 students from Cape Girardeau County were enrolled in the center. McDougall said that statistic shows the center is meeting its goal of reaching residents in this area who otherwise may not have enrolled in college classes. Cape Girardeau County doesn't have a community college.
Officials with the partnership schools recently signed a memorandum of understanding to extend the operating agreement.
"We are beyond the experimental stage," McDougall said.
mbliss@emissourian.com
(573) 388-3641
Pertinent address:
1080 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, Mo.
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