The Community College Option, Part 5: Getting technical training is a maze that needs to be simplified, students and coalition members say

Editor's note: This is the fifth in a series on higher education needs in the Cape Girardeau area.

Lee Hudson made a couple of attempts to expand her education while working as a certified nurse.

She took one semester at Shawnee Community College in Illinois in 1999.

"It was really too far, and I didn't have a decent car," she said.

In 2005, she started the respiratory therapy program at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center, but got pregnant. She said she was determined to restart the program in 2007 even though she was taking care of a 6-month-old at the time.

First-year students Kyle Kern, left, and Abbey Stockton review for oral practical exams May 18 at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center. (Kit Doyle)

"I thought, 'You've got two now, so that should be all the more reason to come back,'" she said.

Now 32, she recently completed the two-year program in Cape Girardeau working primarily through three institutions, the Career and Technology Center, Southeast Missouri State University and Mineral Area College, which will confer her associate degree.

A coalition of 11 business and education leaders has been meeting since early 2007 to address higher education needs in the Cape Girardeau area. It commissioned a study last year to assess the education needs of the region. Many coalition members said the process of getting technical training in the area should be more streamlined, and Hudson said she agrees.

"You've got to put an application in for this and do an application for that," Hudson said. "If you're not used to it, it's a big maze."

She received financial aid from Mineral Area College but also had to make payments to Southeast for general education classes. Hudson said she had trouble juggling payments to both institutions.

"I almost had to quit because I didn't have the money to pay SEMO," she said.

She said dealing with one institution for her education, especially a community college, would be ideal.

In Cape Girardeau there are three options for education in health care, one of the largest employers in the area: Southeast Missouri College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the Career and Technology Center and Southeast.

The Southeast College of Nursing, which is privately funded, costs about $300 per credit hour. Programs through Mineral Area College, which are offered at the Career and Technology Center, cost $108 per credit hour for out-of-district students.

Businessman Earl Norman, who is a member of the coalition, has advocated converting the center into a community college for years. The center's conversion is one of the options proposed in the study.

He said it would be a comfortable transition for students who receive training there during high school.

"They're used to coming there," he said. "It's a simple process to expand that and grow that."

Southeast, which is a moderately selective university, has options for students who do not meet its admission requirements, including summer classes and regional centers. Norman said a new community college could better serve the open enrollment students in the area.

"What they're trying to do is fill a gap that was self-created," he said of Southeast.

He said the university should focus instead on offering more specialized health-care and professional programs. Students who are not ready for university-level classes would have more appropriate options with a community college, he said.

"Move them into the education system with their pride and dignity intact," he said.

Kyle Corgan, 22, who also studies respiratory therapy at the Career and Technology Center, said the enrollment process was easy to navigate. The center, however, was not his first choice right out of high school because technical training did not appeal to him.

After taking classes for two years at Murray State University in Kentucky, he said he was overwhelmed with university courses and could not decide on a major. He said he now has more respect for the rigor of classes offered at community colleges.

"I would have liked to do this right out of high school," he said.

Fifteen other students graduated from the respiratory therapy program with Corgan this year.

Rich Payne, director of the Career and Technology Center, said the center's nursing program draws the most students. The last graduating class of licensed practical nurses had 40 students. For next year he said there are 287 applicants for 48 slots.

The center is also in the process of obtaining accreditation for physical and occupational therapy assistant programs. He said the center will start offering classes for those programs next spring.

Payne said there is classroom and lab space available to accommodate more courses and programs. The center also already has established relationships with hospitals for clinical hands-on training, he said.

Nicole Chance, human resources manager at Saint Francis Medical Center, said the Career and Technology Center is a reliable supplier of respiratory therapists. The new physical and occupational therapy programs will also help meet an increasing demand.

Beth Keller, a recruiter at Saint Francis, said there could be more opportunities for training in pharmacy, therapy and radiology to help meet employer demands.

"We would love to see a physical therapy, occupational therapy or both come closer to the area than they have," she said. "It would be great to have another program here."

Officials at Southeast Missouri Hospital would not comment on community college issues in the area.

The Southeast Missouri College of Nursing opened in 1990 and has been adding programs to meet changing needs in the area, said president Dr. Tonya Buttry.

In 2000 the college started offering a surgical technology program in addition to its nursing programs. The radiologic technology program started in 2002 and the medical technology program was moved from the hospital into the school in 2005, she said.

Buttry said advisory committees composed of area employers monitor the programs to make sure students are finding jobs and the college is meeting community needs.

To pay for their education, she said, students can borrow up to $15,000 from Southeast Missouri Hospital. If hired, they can pay off the loan through work, or it can be transferred to another hospital where it can be paid off.

Buttry said all three health-care training sites are in tune with the work-force needs of the industry and that they work together to keep from duplicating programs.

"I don't see any big gaps in the health-care education right now," she said. The college currently has 173 students enrolled.

Because the college of nursing is tied to Southeast Missouri Hospital, Norman said, there should be one neutral source of health-care education. He said the natural competition between the city's two hospitals is healthy for business but not for education.

"They don't have a need to compete in the education sector," Norman said. He said it creates a built-in opportunity for resentment and that a neutral community college could better serve both institutions.

With the release of the study, he said, coalition members can focus now on finding a new solution for higher education needs.

"I do think something will happen," he said. "I'm positive of that."

abusch@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

1080 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, MO

2001 William St., Cape Girardeau, MO

5270 Flat River Road, Park Hills, MO

211 St. Francis Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO