Cost Effective Access to Higher Education via University Centers

G. Gary Grace, Executive Director & Dean, UCLC

What Is the University Center of Lake County?

University Center is…•A unique and voluntary consortium of 18 Illinois colleges and universities--9 private, 8 public and 1proprietary

•Offering both continuing and returning place-bound and adult students the ability to earn baccalaureate and advanced college degrees as well as to enhance their professional development

•A full-service , state-of-the-art conference center

Vision

The University Center aspires to be recognized throughout the region as a leader in transforming lives, developing talent, and creating success through innovative and responsive approaches to higher education—emphasizing accessibility, flexibility, and choice.

Mission

The mission of the University Center, a consortium based center, provides high quality educational opportunities for the residents, workers, and employers of the Lake County region.

UCLC Member Institutions Benedictine University Concordia University

Chicago Chicago School of

Professional Psychology DePaul University Dominican University Governors State

University Illinois State University Kendall College National-Louis

University

North Park University Northeastern Illinois

University Northern Illinois

University Roosevelt University Saint Xavier University Southern Illinois

University Carbondale University of Illinois

(Chicago, Springfield, Urbana-Champaign)

College of Lake County

College of Lake County University Center of Lake County

Additional Locations: Waukegan, Great Lakes Naval Training Center & Online

Facility Snap Shot A total of 100,000 square feet of instructional,

administrative and student service space in two permanent facilities in Grayslake and Waukegan

Student services area with open computer area Twenty-nine “smart” classrooms Four computer labs Two distance learning classrooms Eight seminar rooms Three conference rooms Library Conference center with large multipurpose room,

lanai, lecture hall, and tiered classroom with distance learning capability

Educators’ Center and computer lab

Budgetary Snap Shot

FY 2009 FY 2010State appropriation $2,931,856

$1,718,000Revenue/Interest 355,000 521,133Capital Grant 0 125,000From Operating Reserves 0

325,000$3,286,856 $2,689,833

Governance Snap Governance groups with which the UCLC relates:

Illinois Board of Higher Education University Center of Lake County Governing Board Council of Member Institutions Student Advisory Council

The CMI reviews petitions of new members and new degree programs for approval by the Governing Board

UCLC is a 501 (c) (3) organization. The legal entity is the independent governing board consisting of eight business and community representatives (including a trustee shared in common with the College of Lake County,) and six academic representatives (including SAC representative)

Staffing Snap Shot 13.5 FTE Professional Staff

3 Executive level administrators 1 Librarian 1 Waukegan campus manager 2 User support technicians (IT & A/V) 1 Building operations manager 1 Certified meeting planner/conference center director 1 Financial manager 2 Administrative support staff .5 Educator’s Center Director

7 Part-time staff (6 receptionist & 1 set-up person in CC)

Outsourced security, maintenance/custodial, food , & network services

Enrollment Snap Shot

Student PopulationDemographics: GenderIllinois Public Universities (selected)

University Center of Lake County

Student PopulationDemographics: Program LevelIllinois Public Universities (selected)

University Center of Lake County

Student PopulationDemographics: Enrollment StatusIllinois Public Universities (selected)

University Center of Lake County

Program Snap Shot Over ninety academic degree, certificate and

professional development programs offered in either face-to-face, blended, or in online instructional formats.

35 Undergraduate programs 36 Graduate programs 22 UG/GR Certificate programs 5 Professional development programs

Degrees and certificates offered by Southern Illinois University, Dominican University, Northeastern Illinois University, Saint Xavier University and North Park University account for 80% of our offerings.

Programming the three University of Illinois campuses are exclusively online.

Why and How Did University Centers Develop?

Why University Centers?

External Forces Internal Forces

Increased societal expectations for higher education to be more efficient, competitive, accountable, accessible, and generally “out of the ivory tower”

Genuine internal desire of colleges and universities to be more responsive to stakeholders, their needs, and state and regional conditions

Why collaborative partnership? Responds to changing conditions and pressures Enables a state or region to tackle complex and

expensive issues Legitimizes and energizes common enlightened

interests of varied and often competitive organizations, political leaders, and businesses

Can lead to collective commitment and formal agreements between two or more parties that they will plan and work together voluntarily on a given problem or task (e.g. increased access to higher education opportunity in Lake County)

Why University Center in Lake County IL Lake County was the fastest growing county in the

1990s Economic shifts were occurring in the City of

Chicago and the surrounding collar counties as major corporations relocated to the suburbs to reduce costs

Changes in population demographics with significant increases in Hispanic citizens with different educational goals and cultural characteristics

State-wide and regional political leadership was in place strategically for innovation and significance

Aspirations of community colleges to acquire bachelor degree authority

Illinois Board of Higher Education Vision

“The Board is proposing a university center, not a university. A university is large in terms of facilities, programs, and students; it is self-contained; and is quite expensive to construct and operate. On the other hand, a university center is small in scope in its programs and numbers of students. Also, it is collaborative, bringing together the resources of many institutions, and it is cost-effective. The university center concept enables the state to meet educational needs in Lake County for less than one quarter of the cost of building another public university.”

-Dr. Doug Day, Deputy Director for Planning, IBHE addressing the Board & Agenda Item #1

Why nonprofit 501 (c) (3) approach? Not business as usual and it symbolically said

that we are not in the business of establishing a thirteenth stand-alone institution or satellite of an existing public institution

IBHE and staff desired a more facile and unique organization than traditional college/university and one that didn’t need to follow state procurement requirements

Avoided permanence trap of state statutory route Placed primary impetus for development in

hands of region and independent governing board

A Valuable Investment for Illinois The University Center achieves cost efficiencies

for IBHE and the Lake County community by leveraging instructional resources already developed by member institutions.

Operational support to the Center includes regional outreach and needs assessment; 100,000 square feet of award-winning instructional space, plus technology, student advisory, and library support to students and faculty.

The University Center continues to grow to meet community needs—of the citizens and area businesses.

The University Center provides access to higher education degree programs and lifelong learning opportunities for a population representative of Lake County population distributions.

Lake County, IL **

University Center

Illinois ** Illinois Universities’ Students **

United States **

Black 6.7% 10% 15% 15% 12.8%

White 67.9% 64% 65.3% 67% 66.4%

Hispanic 18.7% 8% 14.7% 7% 14.8%

Other * 6.3% 18% 4.6% 11% 5.6%

* Many students choose not to provide ethnicity data; these numbers are included for Other in the University Center data.** Data from U.S. Census Bureau, Sate & County QuickFacts (2006).

The University Center Mirrors the Region

Expenditures per Student:Instructional Programs

Expenditures per Student:

Non-Instructional Programs (Operational)

It is a Cost Effective InvestmentElements of the University Center budget support shared instructional program costs – such as student advising, technology consulting and support, and library support. Much of the University Center budget supports operational expenses.

Why it usually works… Strong local leadership of the Governing

Board (sustainability and financial stability) and the Council of Member Institutions (high quality academic degree program)

Shared vision—provide increased access to higher education and a constant questioning of where do we want to be, not just where are we?

Entrepreneurial spirit Transparency