BEATRICE – Southeast Community College held the fourth out of ten public input sessions, as the school administration and board of governors begins charting a new strategic plan for the college.  The session Tuesday evening at the Beatrice Campus Academic Excellence Center drew a handful of people.


SCC President Dr. Paul Illich says the school has been focusing on modernizing facilities, but also drawing more high school graduates to come to SCC.
"We currently receive about 18 percent of high school graduates following high school graduation.....come here. I want that to be 35 to 40 percent. Increase that pipeline...the same thing with returning students. You can have the facilities, but we also need to have that student pipeline. So, we want to target both of those expansion opportunities."


It’s been a major change for community colleges in Nebraska beginning this year. They no longer can levy property taxes for general operations but retain a two-cent property tax levy for capital improvement projects. Under a system where additional state aid is allocated to the schools through a Community College Futures Fund….schools that are growing their enrollment stand to see increased funding.


"Last spring, we grew 12 percent...and that's very important because the new model is tied to enrollment growth. It's actually tied to a weighted form of enrollment growth called the reimbursable education unit." Community colleges receive greater weighting toward funding for providing technical skills classes...which are generally more expensive to provide.


The Milford Campus has increased its enrollment nearly 50-percent in the past five years. That’s led the college to build new student housing. The growth in student numbers has also been seen in Beatrice and Lincoln.


"We're at 10,700, which is now over a thousand students more than last fall. And, that's growth on top of growth. That's about a ten percent increase in enrollment from the fall of '23 to the fall of '24....and that's overall."


Illich says the college is building private support through the SCC Foundation Empower Campaign….and has received major donations, including contributions acknowledged through naming rights on facilities. The largest-ever gift in the school’s history helped result in the Sandhills Global Technology Center at the Lincoln Campus, set to open in January.  In 2019, the first major contribution to SCC led to creating the Crete Carrier Diesel Technology Center at Milford.


"Having partners stepping up and helping us is so important. They need employees....we need to be serving them...and so the more we can partner, the faster we can move."  The college over the past ten years has increased its number of programs from 55 to about 80, offering certificates, diplomas or associate degrees.


The next public input session is at noon, Thursday, at an Ashland Chamber of Commerce meeting…followed by a 6 p.m. meeting at the Plattsmouth Learning Center.  The four final public input sessions September 17th to the 26th will be held at the SCC Milford Campus….the Nebraska City Learning Center…the Lincoln Campus of the college…and at the Falls City Learning Center.


Southeast hopes to have a new five-year strategic plan in place by May or June, of next year.