CCSN’s auto tech center to receive new priority

Friday, Jan. 7, 2005 | 11:14 a.m.

The Community College of Southern Nevada will likely come out better off following changes to the university system's capital construction list, President Richard Carpenter said.

Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers' proposed changes, which regents were scheduled to vote on this afternoon, will allow the college to keep its automotive technology center on the system's wish list and also to improve the chances of funding at least $10 million of its proposed $30 classroom facility, both Carpenter and Rogers said.

Rogers said he is recommending that the Board of Regents bump up the state's proposed allocation for the automotive technology center to $10 million from $5 million on two conditions: that CCSN's foundation comes through with its promises to deliver checks today totaling $1 million in private money and that students in the program begin paying a $250 fee each semester to subsidize the second half of the project.

Carpenter and Rogers said they hope that the auto industry will cover the fees for the students they hire out of the program. Most of the 800 students in the program are able to gain internships upon enrollment.

Rogers said the student subsidy should cover the remaining $10 million needed for the second phase of the building, keeping the institution from dipping into state coffers again.

The total cost for the 95,400-square-foot technology building is $20 million, and Rogers initially tried to divide it into four phases. After meeting with architects and engineers, however, college officials realized the building could only be split into two phases.

That's one of the main reasons for the changes to the construction list, Rogers said, but he said he did consider moving the project down or taking it off the list because the college had yet to secure any private funding for it.

Rogers is also changing the college's $30 million request for a new 100-classroom learning center on the West Charleston campus because he says it will never be funded by the Legislature at that level. Instead, he is recommending that regents only ask for $10 million, which would still give the college about 35 new classrooms.

"It won't meet our need but it will help," Carpenter said. "We'll be able to meet more of our need."

Regents are scheduled to vote on the recommendations this afternoon. The 2005 Legislature, which convenes in February, has the final say on what projects get funded at what level.