Gila Community College set on independence

The provisional college district has contracted with interim President Janice Lawhorn to set up the personnel, purchasing and other systems needed to ultimately move toward independence and achieve regional accreditation for the college.

Currently, the provisional community college district relies on Eastern Arizona College in Thatcher to provide its accreditation. This ensures all the credits students earn will transfer seamlessly to the state’s three universities and other institutions across the country. EAC employs all the staff, decides on all the academic programs and sets policies — with input from an elected board in Gila County. GCC pays EAC about $1 million annually to administer the district.

“The first couple of steps are looking at an HR (Human Resources) System — we will need an HR person — then an accreditation specialist who can really guide us,” said Lawhorn, who worked for EAC for years before becoming the provisional district’s only employee. “This will ensure all the Payson and Globe faculty and staff members can one day shift over to the new district, without losing benefits or years of service in the Arizona State Retirement System.

“We’re extremely optimistic,” said Brocker. “You bring up the bottom line: Is it worth it? And every obstacle that we’ve faced suggests the answer’s always yes — it’s worth it for the residents of Gila County, our students and our employees — but it’s a long haul. We’re really making good progress. It’s expected it will happen.”

The district hopes to start the accreditation eligibility process within the next year. However, the process really starts once the commission approves the application and gives the district “candidate” status, which normally takes 4-5 years. As a “candidate” district the GCPCCD board would gain the ability to award its own degrees and certificates.

The new momentum toward independence stems from the long-sought passage of a new state law that lowered the enrollment threshold for independence. That dovetails with Brocker’s leadership on a board that seems to have largely smoothed over the north-south rivalries of the past. Finally, the district struck an agreement with Gila County to provide $250,000 annually to move the process along.

In the meantime, the provisional district will continue to rely on EAC for its accreditation and day to day management of the GCC campuses in Globe and Payson.

Brocker hastened to add that the move toward independence implies no dissatisfaction with EAC, which has worked closely with the GCC board and efficiently managed the Globe and Payson campuses for years. “They’ve been a great partner,” she said.

So why bother?

The shift would provide local control over a host of key decisions, including things like partnering with the MHA Foundation to bring university programs to Payson, expanding vocational programs like the welding program in Globe, striking relationships with northern Arizona and others to provide hybrid programs for local students and building on things like the dual enrollment program at Payson High School funded by the Aspire Arizona Foundation.

Brocker’s husband — Paul Brocker — heads the Aspire Arizona Foundation, which was established by the MHA Foundation. Aspire raises money to ensure that Payson students can take GCC classes on the high school campus for free. Some students have earned a community college degree before graduating from high school — saving $20,000 in tuition for two years at a state university.

“We don’t have control of our own educational destiny when another college accredits us,” said Brocker.

Of course, the effort still faces challenges — not to mention a long grind of paperwork that could stretch on for years.

“The pathway to being fully organized has been bumpy at best,” said Brocker.

The pandemic presented the most recent challenge — with enrollment dropping sharply as the college shifted to mostly online classes. The district’s Payson campus remains unusually dependent on retirees taking enrichment classes rather than traditional students seeking a degree. The college is continuing to grow its dual enrollment programs with Payson High School, where high school students can take general education classes funded by the Aspire Arizona Foundation and occupational courses funded by the Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology (NAVIT). Students over 55 years of age receive free tuition — but many dropped classes during the pandemic. The Globe campus is more heavily invested in vocational programs making the transition to the workforce a goal for many students in the area.

Enrollment plunged during the pandemic and has been making a slow recovery with the resumption of in-person classes. It currently stands at more than 700 full-time-equivalent (FTE) students — based on the total number of credit hours divided by 12 — the load of a full-time student. Fortunately, the legislature reduced the threshold for an independent community college district to 450 FTE — leaving the door open to independence despite the enrollment setback.

“I want to paint a picture of optimism,” said Jan Brocker. “In the past two years, we have put things in place to move forward way better than any time in the past — that required special legislative action, hiring an interim president and the agreement with the county. That is why we’re moving forward now. It may seem daunting, but it’s a process. It’s just different for us because our starting point is that we’re a provisional district.”

Lawhorn added, “No one else has really gone through this process of starting a provisional district that becomes an independent college — so we’re starting in our own pond pretty much all by ourselves trying to figure this out. We can’t just follow somebody else’s footsteps — we have to blaze our own trail. We have students taking classes with us — and we can’t jeopardize their degrees and transfers. Our faculty and staff have been paying into Social Security and retirement — and we won’t jeopardize that. This requires great thought and some well-planned strategic moves.”

Editor’s note: Look for future stories on new programs and faculty, whether a new college would offer four-year degrees, the link between an independent community college and hopes to bring a university to Payson and the move to offer new vocational programs.