Offering a hospitality management program was presented to the Odessa College Board of Trustees during a workshop meeting Monday in the Wood Math and Science Building.
The program would be up for approval by the board at their 6:30 p.m. Aug. 22 meeting in the Zant Room of the Saulsbury Campus Center.
Associate Vice President for Adult, Continuing, and Workforce Tiffani Price said it would couple with the culinary arts program. The college’s community advisory board is seeking this degree, especially the Odessa Marriott Hotel & Conference Center.
Price said it would be built to align with the ExxonMobil BAAS Leadership and Management Occupational Health and Safety Management Degree Program. The closest hospitality management programs are at El Paso Community College and Texas Tech University.
Next steps are to get certification from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; post the program chair position and hire for that position; put a program application in to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges; and prepare for the program to start in fall 2024 or spring 2025.
Price said hospitality jobs were lost during the pandemic, but they are coming back.
Vice President for Academic Partnerships Jonathan Fuentes spoke about the FAST Dual Credit program. The FAST program provides funding to participating public institutions of higher education so they can offer dual credit courses to educationally disadvantaged students at no cost, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board website said.
Currently the maximum in-district cost for dual credit students is $55 per credit hour and in the extension areas, it’s $70 per credit hour, Fuentes said.
“What we’re requesting is that we move to $55 for the max rate per credit hour for all students in-district and out-of-district. When they announce the max rate, we think it’s going to be $55 right now, but whatever that max rate is we’ll adjust our tuition so that it falls in line with the FAST funding that is made available by the state,” Fuentes said.
“Then in addition, fees will be waived, so FAST-eligible students do not pay the tuition, fees, books or supplies. What we’ll do is we’ll work with the ISDs or whoever the payer is on what they may be able to pay,” Fuentes added.
ISDs stands for independent school districts.
Hearings on the OC tax rate will be held at noon Sept. 7 and 6 p.m. Sept. 12 on the first floor of the Saulsbury Campus Building. The actual tax rate will be voted on at the September board meeting.
The proposed rate is 0.149417 per $100 valuation for maintenance and operations and 0.021744 per $100 valuation for debt service. The total would be $0.171161 per $100 valuation.
The current rate is $0.164191 per $100 valuation for maintenance and operations and 0.024452 per $100 valuation for debt service for a total of 0.188643 per $100 valuation.
Vice President for Student Services Kim McKay said up until this point, transcripts were provided free of charge. But since the cost of printing and electronic delivery has increased, they are requesting the board charge a nominal fee for student transcripts after they order the third one.
Last year June to June, they had almost 6,000 students order 10,000 transcripts.
“There are a lot of transactions that are going on with regard to transcripts being sent all across the country. … On average, students order four transcripts a year. Our traditional students are ordering one or two transcripts. Our dual credit students are ordering four to six and that’s typically because they apply to a four-year institution in October or November,” McKay said.
The cost to the institution annually is close to $40,000.
“Our recommendation for you all is to provide students with three free transcripts a year and then $5 for transcripts four through 10 and $10 for transcripts 11 or more in the same academic year. Then that counter would restart every year so that they get their three free once again,” McKay said. “The college commits to investing $11.70 in transcript costs per student annually. There will be no charge for the 5,300 students who requested three or less transcripts. There were 5,771 students who ordered less than 10 transcripts and they’ll be charged after the third transcript the $5. There were 859 students that ordered five to 10 and only 21 that ordered more than 10,” McKay said.
“Really the cost to students is nominal. It’s not going to make a big impact. But it does show students that there is a cost associated with doing business. It also prevents some or our frequent fliers to order upwards of 80 transcripts a year,” she added.
Board Chair Gary Johnson said the proposal will be recommended to the board.
The board also heard a request to fund eight body cameras for the Odessa College Police Department for $4,654. These will be replacements.
