Career schools turn attention to Wyoming

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – A Fort Collins-based school is the most recent to join the influx of career colleges establishing roots in Cheyenne, Wyo.
The Institute of Business and Medical Careers recently applied for a license from the Wyoming Board of Education, allowing the school to set up shop in that state. IBMC, which opened in Fort Collins in 1987, is in negotiations for a Cheyenne site. The building under consideration spans about 6,000 square feet and could accommodate about 100 students, school officials said.
IBMC hopes to finalize the deal for the purchase of the building by Feb.1 and start classes in March.
“We’ve been looking at this option for two years,´ said Steve Steele, vice president of operations for IBMC. In the current academic quarter the college has 35 to 40 students commuting from Cheyenne to the Fort Collins campus to attend classes.
“We really want to be a part of Cheyenne,” Steele said.
The desire to be a part of the community is the reason IBMC decided to apply for a post-secondary education license from Wyoming.
Typically, the licensing process is reserved for non-accredited schools – IBMC is accredited by the nationally recognized Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.
According to Tim Lockwood, public information officer for the Wyoming Department of Education, if a school is already accredited it doesn’t need to apply for a license to run in the state. He said that an accredited school might seek a license anyway to reassure the students applying that it is a legitimate institution.
If IBMC files all of its papers properly the school could have its license in 90 to 120 days.
But it’s not there alone.
The University of Phoenix moved into its 5,000-square-foot Cheyenne site on Nov. 15. The location is broken into four classrooms with room to spare for administrative space. The school has been operating in Cheyenne since August, with 14 undergraduate business school students and the 13 master of business administration students meeting for classes at a Holiday Inn Express. The University of Phoenix also recently opened a Fort Collins campus.
“The reception we received in Cheyenne has been very warm and very welcoming,´ said Darren Adamson, vice president and campus director for the University of Phoenix Colorado campuses.
The school has 40 students as of the current term at the new campus. The current site could handle classes for 300 to 400 students, according to Adamson. The school offers blended classes – a mix between in-class and online delivery – that makes it possible to handle a large amount of students in limited space.
Adamson said this style of course is perfect for Wyoming were traveling could become an issue. Students can meet in the classroom for the first day, then work from home online, then meet back up to finish out the course.
“We make education convenient, yet rigorous,” he said.
The University of Phoenix offers accelerated courses. Students take one course at a time – five weeks for undergraduate classes and six weeks for graduate classes. A students starting with zero credits can complete the program and receive a degree in four years.
The University of Phoenix offers an undergraduate degree in business management and an MBA at the Cheyenne campus and will offer a master’s of education administration. Adamson said the school is also debating adding a bachelor’s and a master’s program in nursing, a degree in criminal justice and a bachelor’s in information technology.
Adamson said that there are a lot of unaccredited schools operating in Cheyenne, and that is why the University of Phoenix established a campus there.
“We want to fill a need they’re unable to,” he said.
Further competition is also coming from CollegeAmerica, which marked its first day of operation in Cheyenne Nov. 1. Although not all of the renovations to the 1,100-square-foot building were completed on time, nine students began their studies last month at night classes.
By now, all of the renovations are complete and the furnishing stage is under way. The first set of classes is complete – each “module” lasts four weeks – and the second started on Nov. 29. The college now has 17 students enrolled and is offering night and day classes. The next module of classes starts on Jan. 10.
CollegeAmerica offers associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in business, graphic arts, healthcare and technology fields. The courses are accelerated, so degrees take between 18 and 32 months.
Enrollment is increasing, but the school said it has room to grow. The building’s capacity can support 200 day students and 200 evening students, according to Tom Randazzo, director of operations for CollegeAmerica.
“We’re always in the recruiting stage,” he said. “We have some lofty goals.”
CollegeAmerica is on its to meeting one of its goals. When the campus was established, the school began a search for a locally based staff. During the first module, the only local staff consisted of three administrative personnel. Since then the school’s added four faculty members and is continuing the search.
Another recent accomplishment for the Cheyenne campus is reclassification from its status as a branch of the Fort Collins campus to become a branch of the Denver campus. Before it is official, CollegeAmerica must revise its application to its accrediting agency, Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology.
These newcomers are coming into a market already served by a community college. The Laramie County Community College opened in 1968 and is one of seven colleges under the direction and review of the Wyoming Community College Commission.
“Right now, we’re not seeing any affect,´ said Ed Boenisch, deputy director of the commission, about the increase of career colleges and trade schools. By his estimates, the other schools will not deter students from the state-run community colleges due to financial aid available for the public schools and overall cost of courses. The commission sets the cost per credit – $55 per credit or $660 per 12-hour semester – for this school year.
In Wyoming the academic pie appears to be getting bigger. For the 2003-2004 academic year, the state’s seven community colleges had 21,061 students. This was an increase of 2.8 percent over the previous year. The 2002-2003 year experienced a 5.2 percent enrollment increase.
The competition might seem overwhelming, but none of the colleges seem particularly worried.
“We’re not concerned at all, (the University of Phoenix and CollegeAmerica) do something different than us,´ said IBMC’s Steele. He explained that the University of Phoenix and IBMC actually work in agreement with each other. Students that get associate’s degrees at IBMC can transfer their credits to the other school with less hassle than is usual.
“We believe competition is healthy,´ said CollegeAmerica’s Randazzo. “It makes us better at what we do because we have to compete.”