NorthWest Arkansas Community College Building Success Center

BENTONVILLE -- NorthWest Arkansas Community College soon will have a place designed to help new students get off to a good start.

The Student Success Center is nearing completion on the second floor of the Student Center, said Todd Kitchen, vice president for learner support services. Construction began about a month ago and is expected to be finished and open to students the middle of this month.

"This center is designed to support the successful transition of students into the NWACC community," Kitchen said.

The space will contain computers, easy chairs, a big-screen television and a coffee bar. It will serve as a welcome center to facilitate student orientation and provide initial new-student assessments. It also will offer information on degrees and registration.

The center will cost about $78,000. The money comes from the college's Title III grant aimed at strengthening student success, Kitchen said.

The center previously was mostly empty space between the student records and financial aid offices.

"We put a glass wall around it so we could have a little more quiet and a little more opportunity to bring small groups together," said Evelyn Jorgenson, college president.

Jorgenson referred to it as a "multi-functional" space. During times when numerous students need answers to the same kinds of questions, those students could be pulled into the center and served all at once.

"It should cut down on the wait time some students have to get a question answered," Jorgenson said.

Making sure students have a good first semester is key to retaining them through their graduation, Kitchen said. The center is "dedicated to making sure we can do everything in our ability to make that happen for them," he said.

No additional employees will be necessary to staff the center. Workers from the learner support services department will take care of it, Kitchen said.

The college recently has emphasized the importance of recruiting and retaining students. It has seen enrollment increase slightly this fall -- about 0.8 percent -- after two years of decreased enrollment.

Arkansas' two-year colleges as a whole saw a decrease in enrollment of 4.7 percent this fall, according to the state Department of Higher Education.

For many years, student success in completing degrees and credentials at two-year colleges in Arkansas has lagged behind the U.S. average, according to a report published this year by Achieving the Dream, a Maryland-based nonprofit organization. In 2008 the graduation rates at two-year colleges nationally was about 34 percent. The Arkansas rate was about 25 percent.

NW News on 10/01/2014

Upcoming Events