All Technical colleges in GA soon to offer ASN

nursinginga · Jan 25, 2009

Would you mind posting the web address of where you found this information so that I may read it? I tried to go to gacollege411.com and find it but was unable to. Thank you so much and I will make sure to comment after reading the information. I have an idea of what this is pertaining to, but I would like to read the material first before I jump out on a limb. Take care and thanks.

1stloveistobeanurse · Jan 25, 2009

i went to the same website after reading on the gwinnett tech websit that certain tech colleges are megering, that article is here:

14 state technical colleges to merge; 7 presidents’ jobs to be cut

by [color=#004488]james salzer

the atlanta journal-constitution

thursday, october 09, 2008

the state’s deepening fiscal crisis has prompted georgia technical college officials to merge 14 of the system’s 33 schools.

the 14 colleges will be merged into seven. the move, which include the pairing of chattahoochee tech in marietta and north metro tech in acworth, will save about $3.5 million in top administrators’ salaries, fringe benefits and other expenses, officials said.

[color=#004488]enlarge this image

[color=#004488] calvin cruce/ajc

chattahoochee tech in marietta is merging with north metro tech in acworth. here, chattahoochee tech students look at a music video they created. the college’s tv production program has won several awards.

recent headlines:

• [color=#004488]metro and state news

once the mergers take place, the chattahoochee and north metro campuses will have almost 14,000 students, by far the largest in the state, system officials said. the boards governing the affected schools will pick new names for the colleges before july 1, when the unions will be complete.

but some small-town officials and lawmakers aren’t convinced.

they fear their colleges will wind up being little more than subsidiaries to schools in bigger cities. that could cost their towns prestige, status and, eventually, educational programs, they say.

“i know they have to make cuts, but we want to make sure we don’t lose our identity,” said state sen. jeff mullis (r-chickamauga). “the northwest georgia (legislative) delegation will fight to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

mullis represents north georgia’s northwestern tech, which would merge with coosa valley tech in rome.

metro atlanta is loaded with educational opportunities, from public and private universities to technical college campuses in most counties. in rural georgia, technical colleges are a major source of training, economic development potential and small-town pride.

small counties with technical colleges use them to try to lure businesses because georgia’s technical school system has traditionally been quick to tailor training to meet the needs of companies. such re-training is particularly important in towns that have been hurt in recent years by the loss of textile and manufacturing jobs.

so folks in some towns worry about the changes the technical college system wants to make.

hays arnold, the mayor of thomaston, is among them. thomaston is home of flint river technical college, which would be merged with griffin technical college.

he worries that programs might be cut, despite assurances from the state. ” our little community has lost some one out of five manufacturing jobs (in recent years),” he said.

“we are being told programs might be expanded, but sometimes you become very skeptical about what government tells you might be done,” he said.

sen. george hooks (d-americus), who represents thomaston, shares arnold’s concern.

“they should not hinder the economic development of these communities that need their help in these difficult economic times,” hooks said. “technical education in difficult times needs to be in the forefront of creating new jobs.

“bigger is not better.”

state officials say none of what has made the technical colleges successful will be lost when the 14 school are merged.

the most immediate changes will be in the number of president and vice president salaries the state has to pay. each merger combination will save the state about $500,000 in salaries and expenses.

“the campuses themselves will stay the same,” said michael light, spokesman for the technical college system of georgia. “if i was a student attending that college, i wouldn’t know anything different was going on until they changed the sign.”

light said students at the colleges will probably see an expansion of programs because they will have access to the offerings of both of the merged schools.

robert hitchcox of ringgold, who sits on the board of northwestern technical college in rock spring, supports the change.

“if we can streamline our education system, we need to do it,” hitchcox said. “i don’t think we’re going to diminish the cause of education. we aren’t going to lose our identity at northwestern technical college, nor at coosa valley. they are the cornerstones of our community and they are going to remain that.”

that’s the message technical college system commissioner ron jackson is trying to convey in meetings across the state with the boards of colleges being merged.

he’s got a supporter in lt. gov. casey cagle, the senate’s president.

“that (merger) is a way in which you gain efficiencies without cutting services to students,” cagle said.

but jackson hasn’t yet convinced every lawmaker it’s a good idea, and the general assembly must approve the technical college system’s budget.

hooks, a member of the senate appropriations committee, said, “until it’s proven to me that without exception that they will increase the mission of technical education in those counties, i will not think this is a good idea.”

when i went to ga411college, i did a search under careers and then list of careers in alpha order, i then did a list on reg. nurse and several of these schools atlanta tech and dekalb tech included seems to be opening new rn programs in the near future. it looks like this merger maybe allowing them to expand instructors to teach for new nursing programs. when i did the same listing for lpn the only schools listed are as follows:

1. east central tech

2. north georgia tech

3. northwest tech

4. southeastern tech.

now a know for sure these were not the only schools offering the lpn program. so, maybe i do not know but either the merger is creating more room for rn programs or several tech lpn programs are transitioning to rn programs.

nursinginga · Jan 25, 2009

this would be a great opportunity, but there is a hidden agenda to this proposal. this is in regards to a piece of legislation that mr. cagle is attempting to place on the list that correlates with the proposal "tough choices or tough times" that would merge technical schools with two-year colleges. this would mean that the georgia technical system would oversee the two-year colleges instead of the university of georgia system. this would be a good idea if it were not for the fact that most all of the students that attended or are attending the two-year colleges would have a very likely chance of losing their abilities to transfer most of the courses to four-year universities. the letter that follows was posted to our email by one of our english professors at gpc the other day and speaks of the proposal:

hello gpc students,

you may or may not know that governor purdue is currently reviewing a proposal entitled “tough choices or tough times.” the section of the proposal that should concern you discusses the “merger” of the two-year colleges with the tech schools. according to several newspaper articles, the term “merger” is a misnomer. gpc and other two-year colleges would no longer exist. we would no longer belong to the university system of georgia (usg). instead, two-year institutions would be absorbed by the tech schools.

why should you oppose this “merger”? as a gpc student, you have benefitted in the following ways:

1. quality education. you are taught by award winning faculty in small classes. because gpc belongs to the university system of georgia, all the college-level courses you take transfer to any of the four-year colleges or universities within the university system of georgia. gpc also has tag agreements (transfer agreement guaranties) with over thirty public and private four-year institutions and universities in and out of the state. if you maintain a certain gpa at gpc, you are guaranteed admittance into a particular school.

2. success. gpc transfers more students to the university of georgia, georgia state college, and many other four-year state colleges and universities than any other two-year school in the system. many of our students graduate from four-year institutions with honors. to help all students succeed, we offer remedial courses to prepare students for college-level classes. remediation at the college level will be non-existent if the governor passes the proposal. gpc also offers english as a second language (esl) to support georgia’s diverse student population. under this merger, esl and other academic programs will not survive.

for those of you who wish to earn an associate’s degree, you will have fewer available programs of study.

3. access. we offer quality education at a reasonable price at multiple locations around the metro-area: clarkston, decatur, newton, dunwoody, and alpharetta. we also offer the largest selection of freshman and sophomore level online courses than any other school in the university system of georgia. students can complete their first two years of course work without coming to campus.

if you, your friends, and your family want access to an affordable quality education within the university system of georgia, we ask that you contact lt. governor casey cagel, your state representatives, and governor purdue to state that you do not support the merger of the two-year schools with the technical college system. two-year colleges should remain members of the usg because of the benefits they offer you and all georgia citizens.

because the governor could approve this proposal at any time, we have provided the links below to assist you (you may have to cut and paste the addresses into your browsers):

1. lt. governor casey cagel: 404- 656-5030; e-mail: [color=#3b5998]http://ltgov.georgia.gov/00/agency/contact_us/0,2688,2199618_87997337,00.html

2. state representatives: to find names, numbers, and e-mail addresses: congress.org http://www.congress.org/congressorg/state/main/?zip=30097&action=setaddr&view=myofficials&state=ga&submit=go type in your address to locate your two state representatives.

3. governor purdue: 404-656-1776; e-mail: http://gov.georgia.gov/00/gov/contact_us/0,2657,78006749_94820188,00.html

if you decide to contact lt. gov. casey cagel, your state legislators, and gov. purdue, please do so as soon as possible. if your state legislators are unfamiliar with the proposal, ask them to contact lt. gov. cagel.

this is the actual legislative piece that many are concerned with:

to achieve this objective we recommend:

a. either (a) create a comprehensive community college system by merging the technical colleges and two-year colleges so there is a seamless entry point for all students or, if the two systems are to maintain their separate identities, (b) make certain that the student transition into and between the two systems is seamless and that all duplication of teaching and administrative resources between tcsg and usg institutions has been removed.

you can read the full proposal at:

http://public.doe.k12.ga.us/dmgetdocument.aspx/tctt%20straw%20man%209-16%20revisions.pdf?p=6cc6799f8c1371f62d49984958b19532f29120137b7ca64b856fdc2c9a086358&type=d

i know this is a little off what was first discussed on this thread, but this is very important that people understand the background of this.

1stloveistobeanurse · Jan 25, 2009

This is the first that I was reading on all of this and you are absolutely correct. It would seem to me that it should be the otherway around, the two year colleges should take over the tech schools. You would also think that this way the credits would be transferrable.

Did you read the http://www.tcsg.edu/index.php website, it looks like this is already happening.

Governor Perdue Signs Legislation Renaming Georgia's Technical College

System.

Also if you look through this website you will find some facts of the merger. It looks like they are doing it in blocks of certain schools and eventually moving through all the Tech schools referring to them as colleges. This maybe where Gwinett Tech now has there RN program from. I don't think you can receive a 2 year degree from a technical college or can you I dont know?

Also when you look on the GA BON website under approve schools there are now tons of two year programs that was not there before.

So are you saying this has happen already or what.

If so I would contact both parties to make sure that my credits are indeed transferable. I had this problem and it has been a nightmare trying to get around it.

You know, I wonder if this has anything to do with the BON discrediting online schools for nurses. I can't help but think that if they stopped online schools for nurses, and openned a bunch of tech programs calling them RN two programs then nursing students would have no other choice but to put there funds in by going with these tech schools. I dont know food for thought! you would think they would ask us, but then again what do we know we are just student!

1stloveistobeanurse · Jan 25, 2009

I also believe from reading more into this as they merge they will become SACS accredited which mean the credits are transferable

nursinginga · Jan 26, 2009

Yes, it does seem as if they are trying to silently pass this without any input from the public. This is the letter that I received from Gov. Perdue regarding the issue (not very promising):

After you read this letter that I received, you will notice that Mr. Perdue sounds like he definitely approves of the ideas within this proposed legislation.

Note the comment about "our highest-level learners" near the end of the response.

STATE OF GEORGIA

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

ATLANTA 30334-0900

Sonny Perdue

GOVERNOR

Dear :

Thank you for your letter regarding proposed changes to the current 2-year academic programs in Georgia. Last year, I formed a working group and tasked them with investigating innovative ways to create long-term, comprehensive educational reform to make Georgia more globally competitive. This working group reviewed a provocative national report called Tough Choices or Tough Times to determine how Georgia might best reform its educational policies and practices to achieve these goals. I believe the experts serving on this group fully understand the urgency of the challenges we face, and I am confident that their leadership will bring the changes necessary to facilitate higher student achievement.

One of the things the working group discussed was the possibility of charging the current Technical College System with the administration of all technical and 2-year academic programs offered in Georgia. The group believes this would empower the University System to streamline its focus exclusively on world-class research, 4-year degree programs, and graduate degree programs. At this point, this is simply something that the working group has explored and included in its draft recommendations. No formal recommendations have been issued and no action has been taken.

While no formal report has been issued by the working group, the Technical College System of Georgia and the University System of Georgia have begun exploring the possible strategies that would be required to implement the recommendation of the Tough Choices or Tough Times working group. I believe there are efficiencies that can be found through this strategic analysis of missions of both the University and Technical College Systems that would greatly benefit our highest-level learners, and I optimistically anticipate formal recommendations of this working group.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Thank you again for writing.

1stloveistobeanurse · Jan 26, 2009

It is really not an anticipation, when it has begun. This is a way for them to cut cost and that is the bottom line. Why else would they be so sneaky about it.

On a more positive side, these schools are applying for SACS accreditation, so at least you can transfer credits. Also it seems to open more nursing programs, or at least that seems to be the case. I wonder if these schools will begin to accept student loans as well? or will there be a need for them? I can see them going up on tution now.