Trustees look at cost of programs

The 2012-13 Fort Scott Community College athletic credit hour report was made available and discussed during the FSCC Board of Trustees regular meeting Monday night.

FSCC Athletic Director J.D. Ettore was present for the report but did not speak.

The report includes a revenue per credit hour and total expense breakdown of seven FSCC athletic programs plus the FSCC Spirit Squad. Clayton Tatro, Fort Scott Community College president, said some in the community have expressed concern regarding certain athletic programs which are not breaking even.

"There has been a lot of discussion and concern, not necessarily directly from the board, but more in terms of community, about certain programs not making money," Tatro told The Tribune Tuesday. "The reality is that a community college isn't in business to make money. And what I talked about last night with athletics is, I was trying to drive home the point that not every program we offer is going to break even. And just because it doesn't break even doesn't mean you're going to get rid of it."

The athletic report shows programs making money in 2012-13 were football, baseball, and spirit squad. Programs that lost money were men's basketball, women's basketball, volleyball, softball and rodeo.

"In the last six months we have put forward documentation that we bring forward annually, that is a revenue (breakdown) by program -- that shows that we have occupational programs that don't break even," Tatro said. "And so there are folks who have questioned: 'If a program doesn't break even, should we even have the program?'"

During the board discussion, Tatro said there are some across the college and community who think a college is here to make money. Tatro then said the numbers on the report reflect athletics as a whole "does not necessarily break even. Just because we engage in an activity doesn't necessarily mean we're going to break even on every activity, so I think that's important to know," he said.

Tatro said dollars and cents shouldn't be the only barometer as to why a program should be offered.

He also said other important indicators to a program's viability include: community support, student-life factors, extra-curricular engagement, student involvement, public relations and community goodwill.

Bob Marshall, who served as the FSCC athletic director from 2003-08, shared his thoughts with The Tribune in relation to the athletic credit hour report.

"I agree with what Dr. Tatro said," Marshall said. "Very few of the programs that are through a community college make money. They're not there as a money-making business or entity."

Using the football program as an example, Marshall said, "if you don't have those 85 to 100 student-athletes, you don't have the (credit) hours, and the school might not be able to hire a teacher."

"Then you don't have the dormitory. Somebody's got to be in the dormitory, and the football players fill up your dormitory," Marshall said. "And the football players eat in the cafeteria. So if you don't have the football team, maybe you don't have a cafeteria, maybe you don't have the dorms."

Marshall said the report primarily reflects how the school is doing their accounting.

"Each of those kids from in-state on the football team get money from the state," he said. "So you have to look at it from an accounting standpoint. And you have to look at it from a standpoint, 'do you want to have a dormitory? Do you want to have a cafeteria available to the other students?' And most of the dorm students are athletes. There's room and board being paid and the college is collecting that room and board. The old dormitory has been there for years and the new dormitory was donated. So where's that dormitory money being accounted for."

Marshall said the issue presents "a real quagmire" for the school.

"If you want to argue a position, you could build a position for any side of the coin you want to be on," he said. "So when Dr. Tatro or anybody says anything, there are a bunch of stipulations that have to be considered in connection with their comments. You can't just look at everything on the surface and say 'Oh, that's the answer,' because it's not the answer."

Other agenda items

Tatro discussed Kansas community colleges' tuition and required fee rates for the academic years 2012-14.

"For this year, 2013-14 we are number 11 out of 19. So, 10 colleges of the other 18 charge more in tuition and fees than we do. So we are pretty well right in the middle," he said. "In comparison to our local community colleges, Allen (County Community College), Coffeyville (Community College), Independence (Community College) are less than we are. Labette (Community College) is just slightly less than what we are, and Neosho County (Community College -- Chanute Campus) is more."

Tatro said FSCC is "very comparative and very competitive" as far as in-state rates for tuition and fees go.

* Russell Souza, FSCC student success coordinator, updated the board on student success (indicators) and student retention.

"It truly takes all of us across the college to have an impact on those success indicators," Tatro told The Tribune Tuesday. "We're seeing faculty involvement and staff involvement. We're seeing a lot of people come together to make sure that students are successful and have a positive experience at the college."