BEATRICE – Southeast Community College is eyeing the next major initiatives on its three campuses, with financing of major projects to be considered later this summer.

SCC Board members received an update on plans for a Science Tower on the Lincoln Campus….a Construction Technologies Center on the Milford Campus….and an Agriculture Program lab facility at the Beatrice Campus.

SCC Vice President of Program Development, Dr. Bev Cummins says with growing enrollment, several programs at SCC in the sciences are reaching capacity for the number of students that can be served.

“One of those in particular, the biosciences, is the third highest enrollment growth of all of the different areas at the college, at the campus. Behind Math and English, is Biosciences…..the number of students enrolling in those. We can even see just in the last year, how much it grew in just one year.”

SCC is reporting a roughly nine-percent enrollment increase this year, with College President Dr. Paul Illich saying that number may move higher with summer term enrollment. 

The proposed Science Tower on the Lincoln Campus, in the design phase, would be located next to the Sandhills Global Technology Center.  The projected cost of the facility is about $60 million.

A 52,000 square foot Construction Technology Center on the Milford Campus has a projected cost of over $36 million.  Cummins says higher enrollment is a factor.

“When you look at their fill rate in their classes, they’re all above 80 percent. They have very full programs.  Part of the issue with Milford is growing in enrollment very quickly for a while.  They’re reaching capacity, and their ability to take on any more students is being capped, because of the spaces.”

College Board Chairman Arlyn Uhrmacher says the big jump in enrollment at Milford makes it imperative to proceed with the project.  “This campus has been experiencing tremendous growth.  That’s going to come to a screeching halt because we are now at capacity of what we have. It’s really imperative, I think, that we really strongly consider and figure out a way to do this addition, this building…so we can increase our capacity.”

Developing Agriculture Program Lab space at the Beatrice Campus of about 20,000 square feet is projected at around $10 million.  Cummins says the program also needs new space.

“Ag Hall is highly utilized and it’s a beautiful building.  They love that building for classrooms.  Animal handling, which is all labs,  99 percent utilization. Ford, approaching 101 percent, so highly utilized. If we can the focus on labs for Beatrice and then utilize the classrooms that we have, that gives us an opportunity to get things moving quicker, for the ag facility.”

Cummins says the Ag program upgrade is seen as a phased approach, to better connect program elements.  College officials say a separate arena project for the Agriculture Program would be subject to a private fundraising initiative.

A new Welding Center on the Lincoln Campus has a planned late August opening.  The renovation of an old dorm…Nebraska Hall…into a new Milford Campus Student Center, is nearly finished.  College officials plan a ribbon cutting in September, coinciding with a 50-year college class reunion.