COPPER MOUNTAIN COLLEGE ANSWERS CONCERNS FROM THE ACCREDITING COMMISSION

In July, Copper Mountain College received a letter from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges letting the college know that the college was subject to enhanced monitoring due to several changes in the college’s annual financial report. Interim Superintendent/President Jeff Cummings put the letter on the Board of Trustees’ agenda for today’s meeting. Cummings said the Commission had four concerns: declining student enrollment over the past two years; decreasing revenue due to the declining enrollment; the significant decrease in the college’s reserves (from 40 percent to 5 percent); and leadership changes. Cummings said the college is taking steps to address the enrollment and revenue issues and to develop sustainable finances. He stated the college’s trustees have deliberately reduced the amount in the reserves over the last few years, adding that the State Chancellor requires community colleges to have a reserve of only 5 percent. Cummings said that while the Dean of Instruction and the superintendent/president have both left in the last two years, by next year’s report, the dean will have been in place for two years and the college will have hired a new superintendent/president. Cummings insisted that Copper Mountain College is in very good shape and that the Commission’s letter did not require that the college take any action to address any of the issues raised by the Commission.