MCC - empire building?

Is this what McHenry County residents want? A $280,000,000 expansion at McHenry County College?

Well, folks, if you don't pay attention and get involved, this is exactly what you can expect. Look at it on a small scale. They were getting along just fine with a security department. Then big ideas came to MCC.

Where do big ideas come from? You import somebody. What does MCC have now? A Police Department. With an Interceptor. Just what a tiny-campus school needs. Right? Gotta chase down those parking violators and litterers.

And now? $280,000,000. That's $280 Million...

Read the excellent Letter to the Editor of the Northwest Herald today from Scott Summers. Scott knows what he is talking about. Here it is:

"To the editor:

"McHenry County College has the right mission – but the wrong vision. "I speak, of course, of the College's sweeping new expansion plan. It carries with it a staggering sum: $280 million for the first ten years. If divided by the 2010 census figure of 308,760 residents, that's nearly $1,000 from every child, woman, and man in the county. "But it's not just the eye-popping, jaw-dropping price tag. The plan is, I think, fundamentally flawed: MCC is rushing to centralize at the very time it should decentralize. "It now is plain that distance and internet-based learning will become important – if not dominant – complements to traditional classroom teaching. "And it's also plain that with nowhere-but-up gasoline prices, the concept of a “commuter college" is becoming obsolete. Car ownership should not be an unspoken prerequisite for enrollment. "Rather than concentrating functions on the main campus, the college now should be reaching out to towns throughout the county and putting more offerings “on the road”. There is no new bricks-and-mortar cost associated with classes held at our high schools. "Make no mistake: a flagship campus is important. And MCC is a vital resource; I'm an ardent supporter. But in order to provide quality courses at reasonable prices, the college must turn its delivery process inside out. It now must travel to its students – both physically and online. "In short – a centralized megacampus is the wrong call. For MCC, decentralization isn't an option. It's an imperative. "Scott K. Summers "Harvard"

You can read it here, too, along with comments that appeared in the Northwest Herald. Hurry, though; the Northwest Herald will archive it in a week and expect you to pay to read it later on.

Be sure to read the comments that have already been posted. The first challenges MCC's enrollment-growth projections. Another reminds us that the capital expenses are only a small part of future costs.

Thanks to sky-high salaries (and retirement obligations) and hiring PhDs to "teach" first-year students, students already have a hard time meeting college expenses. MCC could probably do quite nicely with NO PhDs. MCC is a community college. It's a two-year school. It's not Harvard or Notre Dame.