NSCC updates plans for Van Wert campus

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Details of a plan three years in the making were shared by Northwest State Community College officials on Friday.

Archbold-based NSCC will open a full service satellite campus at the former Kennedy Manufacturing building to serve students from Van Wert and Paulding counties and classes starting this fall. The college has purchased the 50,000 square foot building for $495,000.

President Todd Hernandez noted Van Wert and Paulding counties comprise 25 percent of NSCC’s service area and six percent of the college’s enrollment.

“People from Van Wert and Paulding counties can’t drive an hour or hour and a half to come and take classes in Archbold so that’s a big reason why we’re putting a facility in Van Wert, Henandez said.

“We’re not here to be duplicative, we’re here to be additive,” Hernandez continued. “We’re not down here to take students from any other institution…we want to partner with Vantage Career Center, we want to partner with the K-12 schools. We’re hear to listen and learn what the community needs, how can we best service the community and what programs do we need?”

“We’ve formed a apprenticeships with a number of different companies in Van Wert and Paulding counties and some of the initial conversations we’ve had are College Credit Plus, technology, health care, manufacturing and skilled trades. A lot of that is workforce oriented but again we’ll be a full service campus, so there’s guided pathways to success, an opportunity to for students to come to Northwest State, take two years worth of classes or a number of classes that will transfer to a four-year university.”

Jim Drewes, Director of Workforce Development, said NSCC is using a three phase approach over three years to build up the site, including offices, classrooms and training space, a bookstore, space for a computer lab and eSports and a possible pub and restaurant.

The goal is to serve 500 students the first year with an intent to eventually serve up to 1,500 students annually and Hernandez said full and part time faculty will be needed.

“It’s not our intent to bring people from Archbold here,” Hernandez stated.

He also acknowledged NSCC previously attempted to bring a nursing program to a Van Wert storefront and tried partnering with Vantage Career Center but said it didn’t work out.

“At Northwest State we ‘fail forward’ – we learn from our mistakes and what we learned was we didn’t put enough resources in facilities or people,” Hernandez said. “We didn’t have our own facilities or big enough facilities. It’s a new college administration, it’s a new day and it’s new beginnings.”

Hernandez said full-time tuition will be the same as the Archbold campus, which is currently $5,360, plus various fees, books and supplies, but he added the college offers plenty of financial aid opportunities, including scholarships of all different sizes.

Van Wert County Commissioner Todd Wolfrum spoke during Friday’s event and noted it’s a great opportunity for local students.

“We need to get our high schools to start looking at this,” Wolfrum said. “The idea of sending our kids to four-year colleges and getting $100,000 in debt is the worst thing we’re doing to our kids. It’s so ingrained that that’s what we need to do but it’s wrong unless you know exactly what you want to do right out of high school.”

“This is an opportunity for our kids to stay here, try college without running up the big debt and transfer all of their credits anywhere in the state,” Wolfrum added.

Van Wert Mayor Ken Markward offered brief remarks and thanked college officials for their vision and plans and after sharing plans, college officials took those in attendance on a tour of the facility.

Northwest State Community College was established in 1968 as Four County Technical Institute, then was known as Northwest Technical College in 1972. It became a community college in 1994 and currently has over 4,000 students.