Decade has seen Lakes Region Community College evolve in many ways

LACONIA — As the decade began, New Hampshire, like the rest of the rest of the country, was beginning to emerge from the trauma of the Great Recession of 2008.

That economic upheaval caused many people to reassess their priorities, including the way they looked at higher education.

Since 2010, the public’s notion about the role of higher education has evolved to the point where, according to a 2016 state study, the most immediate value of higher education can be summed up in the words "jobs" and "financial security."

That transformation came along just as the status of community colleges in New Hampshire was increasing.

“The stature of community colleges has improved significantly,” said Larissa Baia, president of Lakes Region Community College, one of seven public two-year institutions in the state.

Baia, who holds a doctorate in political science, came to LRCC just four years after it became a comprehensive community college in 2008 with the addition of a liberal arts program.

With the range of English, mathematics, science, literature, and foreign language courses, students have the opportunity to enroll in the same courses they would be taking at a four-year college, and then, if they choose, transfer to a regular college as a junior.

Earlier this month, Plymouth State University announced it would guarantee admission to students who have earned an associate’s (two-year) degree from an accredited community college, like LRCC.

While liberal arts is now the strongest segment of the college’s enrollment, LRCC still attracts students to the more career-oriented programs which have been around since the days when the institution was called a vocational-technical school. Those studies include  automotive, fire science, and marine technology programs, and one big advancement in the past decade was the opening of a state-of-the-art automotive lab, which features 17 vehicle bays and all the latest equipment.

LRCC and other community colleges are, for some students, the first step toward a four-year college degree, while for others it is the place where they will learn the technical skills that will lead to a good-paying job when they graduate.

The college has an enrollment of 1,200 students. Of that number, 60 percent are part-time, Baia pointed out, and the average age of students is 26. Two-thirds of the students are taking courses for credit, said Baia, who has been LRCC’s president for two years.

The college has also battled falling enrollment numbers, which led to a drop in the number of full-time faculty at the school during the past decade. There were 36 full-time faculty in 2014, but just 28 by the fall of 2018.

The decline is also reflected in a decline in the number of credits sold. LRCC was alone among the seven CCSNH member campuses to experience a drop in the number of credits sold between 2008 and 2017. LRCC credits were down by 7 percent while the same metric was up by 18 percent systemwide.

The traditional four-year college experience is not for everyone. Some students are unsure what they want to study, and so LRCC offers a way for them to ease into higher education, while others are looking for a more affordable education.

“There is more interest in thinking of education is a much more practical way,” Baia said.

A big part of that practicality is affordability.

The cost for a New Hampshire resident to attend LRCC or one of its sister colleges is $215 per credit. With about 65 credits required to graduate from the school’s degree programs, that brings the cost of tuition to about $14,000 — a fraction of what it costs to attend a four-year college.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the average cost to attend a private four-year college in 2017-18, including room and board, is $46,950 a year, while the cost to attend a public college as an in-state student, is $20,770.

“Families have often seen community colleges as a second or third choice for their college-going child. But that’s changing,” Baia said. But, she emphasized, “We are not affordable for the sake of being affordable. We are (also) rigorous.”

LRCC, like community colleges elsewhere, strives to adapt quickly to the changing demands of the workplace.

Being in an area where tourism makes up a big part of the economy, the college has expanded its culinary arts program in recent years and also offers a two-year program in hotel and restaurant operations.

Every program has a board comprised of area employers who advise on ways to ensure the courses are relevant to the needs of the job market. Sometimes that involves tweaking courses that are being offered. But it can also mean starting new programs.

When Lakes Region General Hospital began having a harder time filling nursing positions a number of years ago, it looked to LRCC for a solution.

Then-hospital President Tom Clairmont “got the Community College engaged in the health-care field,” said Cass Walker, chief of Human Resource Office and vice president of administrative and support services at LRGHealthcare.

The college responded by offering two-year registered nurse, and licensed nursing assistant programs. In addition, it now offers nursing assistant program.

The RN program enrolls 32 students every year, while about 40 graduate from the LNA program every year, according to Baia. Enrollment in the medical assistant program is smaller — 10 or less, she said.

The RN graduates typically take jobs in hospitals or in doctor’s offices, while the LNAs go on to work in nursing homes or in the home-health field.

“We have a 100 percent pass rate on the nursing exam,” Baia stressed.

While the programs at LRCC have helped to ease the nursing shortage in the Lakes Region, they have not eliminated it.

“There are not enough numbers to meet the demand,” Baia.

But Walker sees the LRCC programs as an asset to LRGH and the other health-care facilities in the area — both in terms of entry-level nursing positions and programs for professional development.

“The Community College programs keep (nurses) employed here and allow them to still get what they need for their professional development,” Walker said.

Baia said, like other community colleges, LRCC is nimble enough to respond to the needs of area employers.

She pointed to a training program that the college put together for Eptam Plastics in Northfield to train some of their employees on the operation of highly-sophisticated machines which processes a piece of material to meet specifications by following a coded, programmed instruction and without a manual operator.

“The low unemployment means employers are competing much more for those people that they need for their work and some of those people need special training,” Baia explained.

Looking ahead, Baia sees LRCC’s goal as providing the kind of education programs that meets the needs of the students.

“Community colleges need to be reflective of our communities and our economies,” she said. “We are supposed to be reflective of the communities where we are. Our challenge is to serve all those (community) characteristics.”