Enrollment is rising at East Mississippi Community College, and so is tuition. What”s not rising is the amount of money in the school”s tuition guarantee fund.
For Lowndes County students, in particular, the dwindling coffers could mean that when their high school mortarboards hit the floor, they won”t be picked up again.
EMCC began offering the program in 2009. Open to eligible students in Lowndes, Clay, Oktibbeha, Noxubee, Kemper and Lauderdale counties, it covers the cost of four semesters at the school once students have exhausted all other avenues of financial aid, including federal, state and scholarships.
Funding for the program is primarily provided by private donors — mainly local industries — who earmark the money for specific counties.
Currently, Mississippi Power funds Lauderdale, Kemper and Noxubee counties. Oktibbeha is funded by SOAR (Starkville-Oktibbeha Achieving Results), and Clay is funded by a recurring $10,000 per year donation from the Clay County Board of Supervisors.
In Lowndes, the tuition guarantee has been primarily funded by a $50,000 one-time donation, and EMCC president Dr. Rick Young told the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link last week that the money is about to run out, with no prospect on the horizon for replenishment.
“I”m going to have to do something to fill the gap, or we will lose tuition guarantee in Lowndes County,” Young said.
Young said Wednesday afternoon that the skimpy till signals an alarming prospect: Thousands of capable students may “fall through the cracks,” further depleting the state”s mind bank and jeopardizing its economic future.
U.S. Census Bureau 2000 statistics indicate that approximately 307,852 Mississippians over the age of 25 do not have a high school diploma, and only 22.6 percent hold an associate”s degree or higher.
Lucrative jobs with international corporations are available right here within the six-county region the college serves, Young said, but without an educated work force, those opportunities will be missed.
“We have to prepare people that can be competitive,” Young said. “We have a global community right here in the Research Park that is going to hire people who can come in and make a difference. If you don”t have your local people educated, they”re not going to get those jobs.”
Last fall semester, 103 of the school”s 4,857 students took advantage of the tuition guarantee program. Nearly half of those students were from Lowndes County, receiving an average of $677.47 per student. Tuition rates are currently $1,025 per semester for full-time students. A full-time student is defined as a student enrolled in at least 12 hours of study.
Young said tuition guarantee lessens the financial burden on parents, removes barriers and gives students hope. He said donors are not only making an investment in the future of the community, they are creating opportunities for students to further their education who might not be able to do so otherwise.
He said he hopes some private or public entity will step forward to continue to fund the tuition guarantee program in Lowndes. He has around $30,000 left that is earmarked for Lowndes, but he doesn”t expect that money to last longer than a year.
“The most precious resource we have is human beings,” he said. “We”re doing everything we can to educate and train individuals to take their place in society, meaning (creating) educated voters, a workforce more attractive to industries that are hiring, and keeping the workforce we have.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.