Corporate tuition could bring more educational ‘collaboration’ to NMSU
Regents of New Mexico State University approved a measure to establish a corporate tuition rate for companies who partner with NMSU Global Campus and Doña Ana Community College.
Through the program employees of collaborating companies would be offered educational opportunities to obtain skills and certifications in their fields. University leaders say the proposal has promising outcomes.
Sherry Kollmann, chancellor of NMSU Global Campus, and Mónica Torres, chancellor of NMSU community colleges, proposed to the implementation of a corporate tuition rate to regents during an Aug. 14 special meeting.
Kollmann explained to the board that the proposal is part of a larger initiative in support of the university’s strategic planning, also known as LEADS 2025, to build a competitive online campus that offers students and employers alternative program for continuing education and certification.
“When you're building an online global campus, there's three parts to it. The first is working directly with students. We've done that, we're moving forward with that," Kollman said.
"The second is building an international focus. We're starting to do that as well. The third part of that is building partnerships with corporations and that provides us with volume and also provides us recognition."
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The proposed corporate tuition rate will price courses at $250 per credit hour, the same rate for active duty military and law enforcement taking online courses through NMSU Global.
According to the proposal’s summary, the new rate would “incentivize additional organizations to encourage their employees to pursue higher education within our system” and would help bring recognition to NMSU’s online programs “as a preferred educational institution for working professionals.”
Amazon is one of the first corporations to collaborate with NMSU Global and DACC. Torres said the focus is mostly on computer technology, cybersecurity and related courses.
“It's an exciting opportunity to work with Amazon, it's a collaboration between the college's computer tech program and Amazon. It's a diversity initiative for Amazon to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in the field, particularly women in computer science and so it just kind of checks a lot of boxes in terms of what we're trying to do as a college as well,” Torres said.
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Kollmann and Torres hoped the corporate rate and Amazon’s partnership will open more doors for future collaborations with other companies seeking educational opportunities for employees. However, partnerships like the one with Amazon are not always in the cards for smaller institutions like NMSU or DACC. Because NMSU isn’t as large of an institution or as expansive in its online offerings quite yet, Kollmann said attracting attention from corporations is challenging.
“We're not as big of an institution as what some of these mega universities are – so like Southern New Hampshire University, LSU, Purdue Global, those are the institutions that get partnerships,” Kollmann said. “We don't necessarily get those type of operations until we get much larger.”
Kollmann and Torres said the new rate and partnership with Amazon would serve as an opportunity to build relationships with future organizations rather than rely on outside efforts.
“We can compete in this market but the advantage of that is that we get to build those partnerships organically, and we get to have those partnerships, one on one with organizations,” Kollmann said.
Regents approved the proposal unanimously, with a few questions asked about its specifics.
Amu Devasthali, chair of the regents, asked about eligibility to participate and what agreements were made with the other community colleges. Regent Garrett Moseley asked about the duration of these partnerships, specifically with Amazon.
Kollmann assured the board that these partnerships would be long-term and would be eligible for all corporations that are interested. Agreements with the other community colleges would be collective under Torres' leadership, Kollmann said, and as a meant to better streamline the process.
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It was unclear if the $250 rate would apply to bachelor programs, however students obtaining certifications and associate programs would be encouraged to stay and finish programs with NMSU Global, Kollmann said.
Earlier this year the online campus was rebranded to expand outreach and to retain New Mexico residents pursuing degrees with out of state institutions. NMSU Global merged both previous online programs — NMSU Online and NMSU On Demand – in February. Enrollment for this year was projected to be 2,000 students.
Ernesto Cisneros is a UNM NM Local News Fund Fellow covering education. He can be reached at ECisneros@lcsun-news.com Follow him on Twitter at @_ernestcisneros.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: NMSU Regents approve corporate tuition rate. Amazon among the first to collaborate
