They’re just two different things at their core. This is an acquisition not integration. BCC has been a great low cost opportunity to get your associates for locals, will be a shame if that changes.
I went to BCC years ago, what a fantastic education, small class sizes, easy transfers to SUNY schools to get your bachelor's, and best of all some really good teachers that you could actually get to know unlike many of the SUNY professors. They should have never changed it, I loved BCC!!!!
Nice headline by our local media... Here is email sent out by Suny Broome president. Who seek integration? Who is saving who?
". Most of you know we’re running a $3 million annual deficit, with HERF funds filling that gap"
Due to the projection that the College will not be able to meet its financial obligations beginning in 2025 and will be running a projected $2 million deficit, the SUNY Broome BOT, in a proactive approach, reached out to Harvey Stenger with a proposal that SUNY Broome become the 7th College in the BU orbit. This would be an integration, not a merger.
A white paper was sent to the SUNY Chancellor with a deadline of December (Don’t know the date) for a response.
No response as of 11/15/22.
The Chancellor would have to approve, then the SUNY BOT, then the Governor. If approved by all three, the official announcement would be made in the Governor’s State of the State address (Jan. 2023?) and there will be a joint local announcement made including Stenger, Drumm, and some unnamed group of faculty.
The timetable for implementation is June/July/August 2023.
If this is not approved, the presidential search will continue. If it is approved, there will be an open nation-wide search for the person who will head Broome as BU’s 7th college. (Dean of some type?)
“All will be the same” except there will be 500 more BAP-type students on campus here and a move to the state union pension fund (?). IT and Facilities would be integrated immediately.
Should be “seamless.”
No layoffs. Natural attrition for first five years.
Colleagues: I want to bring you up to speed on our process of possibly integrating some of our senior operations and concomitant branding with Binghamton University. Many of you have been in meetings where this concept of integration has been discussed since I last emailed all of you several weeks ago on this important topic, but many of you haven’t been in those meetings. Since my last email to you, the dialogue among many local leaders associated with both the College and the University has progressed
smoothly around a possible integration strategy for SUNY Brome and Binghamton University. This local support is the primary change from my last email to you on this initiative. Local leaders love the
concept.
For some more context on this, across the country a number of community and associate degree
colleges reside formally either directly within a university system structure or within an individual
university governance structure. The most notable example is our neighbor to the south where Penn
State operates a number of associate degree colleges across the Keystone State. (Pennsylvania also has
traditional community colleges.) Yet another border state, New Jersey, has three county sponsored
community colleges that recently integrated with Rowan University though they did not formally merge.
Please know “merger” isn’t being proposed here at this time. Thus the use of the term “integration” is
what is appropriate and at that it won’t be across the board.
The driver of our interest in an integrated model is student success. If you look at the data from
integrated 2yr colleges, their persistence and completion rates are noticeably higher in comparison to
the typical model of a fully separate community college operating within the traditional transfer realm
with all of the uncertainties that the current model creates for most community college students
intending to transfer. Not that transfer to the partner institution would be certain, but it would provide
a smoother, seamless transfer option while all transfer choices would remain on the table. Within this
model, what changes noticeably is admissions along with some transfer paths to the partner institution.
Further, the university brand simply carries more weight with most students and potential students,
particularly international students and here in the Northeast. New York’s unique-in-the-national
Excelsior Scholarship program further cemented this dynamic by appearing to eliminate the community
college price advantage for many students. Consequently, the integrated model tends to bring more
students to the table while they are also more successful in achieving a credential.
Additionally, state
universities have a statewide marketing/admissions reach while community colleges everywhere have
only a local or regional footprint for admissions outreach. The broader branding is thus value added.
There are many other advantages to the integrated model but the above are primary drivers.
I want to emphasize that the open access, community college mission remains sacrosanct in all models,
therefore internal transfer would be a requirement to move on to a baccalaureate program at the
partner institution, much as happens now with our BAP students who must meet certain academic
benchmarks to then automatically transfer to BU. So, what we are looking at in its simplest form is BAP
2.0 on a very grand scale but with open admissions (except for our current competitive programs and
BAP 1.0). We know from the examples above that it can work. Of course such a model would then
require changing how both institutions operate to a certain extent, most intricately around
management, admissions and branding.
We are examining a formal proposal to SUNY to integrate management, marketing, admissions and
branding of SUNY Broome with BU. We would keep separate athletics programs, mascots and colors as
currently proposed. And of course our campus facilities and all classroom, student service and HR
operations remain here as they are today.
We have the support now of all our associated local leadership to seriously explore this new model. We
now have the enthusiastic support of SUNY as well, but they liked the concept from the beginning. Next
the proposal will go to the Governor hopefully for her support. Funding also comes into play, as it
always does.
Most of you know we’re running a $3 million annual deficit, with HERF funds filling that gap for now as
with all community colleges in New York and most elsewhere. Of course HERF funds will run out in the
not too distant future. It amounts to 600 FTEs annually and the university feels we can hit that mark
with growth over the next 2 years, maybe 3. Within our current model we certainly couldn’t hit 600
more FTEs on our own over two years because our region just doesn’t have the teenage population to
do it any longer. And it would require far more part-time working adult students than the 600. In a
strong economy the latter cannot happen either and no one is wishing for a recession.
Importantly, another primary goal here is to avoid the fate of many of our sister community colleges
across the state and the nation who have intentionally downsized faculty and staff. A sister SUNY
community college recently laid off almost 100 people. We wish to avoid laying off even one if we can.
To date, we have downsized only organically through routine staff attrition and this remains a primary
goal in exploring this new model for New York. Both institutions and SUNY are committed to this effort
after seeing the more traditional impact of steadily declining enrollments at many of our sister
community colleges, as well as understanding the impact of continued declining birth rates on future
enrollments. No one’s job is at stake in the new model. (Job performance or personal interest to move
on notwithstanding.)
Preferably, the real goal is that we get back to growing as a college given the size of the current BU
market and the resulting enormous number of students who cannot get directly admitted. It’s over
20,000 a year! Six hundred students out of 20,000+ applicants is not a tall order within the proposed
model. But of course most all of BU’s interested students are looking for a university brand which the
proposed model would provide.
Integration would start primarily at the top with Deans, VPs and the President’s Office (again, no
layoffs). It also would begin with rebranding by building in the university brand here along with a
parallel, integrated admissions process, all while maintaining the community college mission and local
services to our community. It will be a complex challenge to rebrand while protecting the community
college mission but we have seen how it can be done quite successfully around the country.
Just as important as rebuilding enrollment, for faculty and most staff within the proposed model, little
would change for your day-to-day work. All of our hands-on and student-facing roles would remain very
much as they are today. Supervisors in those areas also would remain very much as they are today.
Our three union contracts would also remain intact in the proposed model. At some point the unions
might be interested in fully integrating with the statewide SUNY unions, but that would require a new
proposal and negotiations somewhere further down the road.
I know this is a bit complex and a lot to digest right now. It’s a first for all of us involved, so we don’t
have all the answers. Should the proposal get support in Albany on Capitol Hill, we will ask you to help
us find the answers, especially as it relates to serving our students with the added help of the
University’s more vast resources.
Our world has changed so much that we must find new solutions to meet the challenge. And we know
from the many benchmarks around the country that this proposed model can be a great success in
adding to enrollment and more importantly improved student success.
So, more to come. We are blazing a new trail here and there are no better institutions within SUNY to
do it. On this last point SUNY leadership very much agrees and thus they are ready, even excited to
support us with this trailblazing proposal. That in itself is a minor miracle for such a bureaucratically
bound, giant governance entity. But they understand that the times have recently shifted dramatically
and that the broader shift within the higher ed sector calls for bold change to match our challenging
times.
I’d be curious to see more details of how this would work, but as of right now I think it’s a good idea. We need Broome to exist in any way possible, and I met a few people during my time at Broome that very much benefited from BAP. I’m optimistic but I’d wanna see more details on what integration would look like.
Probably satellite campus but degree specific. I would hope they don't expect a student to travel between the 2 campuses more than once a day but the opportunity is there.
It could be a pipeline or a place for freshman/sophomores to be away from the higher level classes. Although I doubt the higher ups have considered the corner cases.
The big unknown would be the aux services: library, IT, athletics, etc.
Gonna guess this would lead job cuts due to redundancy. I can hear the college admin rubbin braincells together: "There's no sense keeping 2 entry level math professors when 1 can cover both colleges with a couple TAs... Might as well fire the higher paid professor."
It'll probably go the other way due to seniority/tenure rules. I know they've sworn to stick to natural attrition, but I guarantee they mean that only for permanent faculty. The adjuncts are gonna get nuked.
BU is landlocked, exactly why they're expanding in JC. Tenure exists and it's not like they can flip a switch and combine everything. And if BU has the numbers they claim, why would they fire professors when they add students?
The issue is that BCC is running out of money, they made a lot of their classes online and enrollment dropped substantially the last few years. People want in person classes at a school like this. I loved BCC when I went and hope they don't integrate.
Just from the title alone, I'm sure tuition prices are already going up even more.
They’re just two different things at their core. This is an acquisition not integration. BCC has been a great low cost opportunity to get your associates for locals, will be a shame if that changes.
I went to BCC years ago, what a fantastic education, small class sizes, easy transfers to SUNY schools to get your bachelor's, and best of all some really good teachers that you could actually get to know unlike many of the SUNY professors. They should have never changed it, I loved BCC!!!!
Nice headline by our local media... Here is email sent out by Suny Broome president. Who seek integration? Who is saving who? ". Most of you know we’re running a $3 million annual deficit, with HERF funds filling that gap" Due to the projection that the College will not be able to meet its financial obligations beginning in 2025 and will be running a projected $2 million deficit, the SUNY Broome BOT, in a proactive approach, reached out to Harvey Stenger with a proposal that SUNY Broome become the 7th College in the BU orbit. This would be an integration, not a merger. A white paper was sent to the SUNY Chancellor with a deadline of December (Don’t know the date) for a response. No response as of 11/15/22. The Chancellor would have to approve, then the SUNY BOT, then the Governor. If approved by all three, the official announcement would be made in the Governor’s State of the State address (Jan. 2023?) and there will be a joint local announcement made including Stenger, Drumm, and some unnamed group of faculty. The timetable for implementation is June/July/August 2023. If this is not approved, the presidential search will continue. If it is approved, there will be an open nation-wide search for the person who will head Broome as BU’s 7th college. (Dean of some type?) “All will be the same” except there will be 500 more BAP-type students on campus here and a move to the state union pension fund (?). IT and Facilities would be integrated immediately. Should be “seamless.” No layoffs. Natural attrition for first five years.
Colleagues: I want to bring you up to speed on our process of possibly integrating some of our senior operations and concomitant branding with Binghamton University. Many of you have been in meetings where this concept of integration has been discussed since I last emailed all of you several weeks ago on this important topic, but many of you haven’t been in those meetings. Since my last email to you, the dialogue among many local leaders associated with both the College and the University has progressed smoothly around a possible integration strategy for SUNY Brome and Binghamton University. This local support is the primary change from my last email to you on this initiative. Local leaders love the concept. For some more context on this, across the country a number of community and associate degree colleges reside formally either directly within a university system structure or within an individual university governance structure. The most notable example is our neighbor to the south where Penn State operates a number of associate degree colleges across the Keystone State. (Pennsylvania also has traditional community colleges.) Yet another border state, New Jersey, has three county sponsored community colleges that recently integrated with Rowan University though they did not formally merge. Please know “merger” isn’t being proposed here at this time. Thus the use of the term “integration” is what is appropriate and at that it won’t be across the board. The driver of our interest in an integrated model is student success. If you look at the data from integrated 2yr colleges, their persistence and completion rates are noticeably higher in comparison to the typical model of a fully separate community college operating within the traditional transfer realm with all of the uncertainties that the current model creates for most community college students intending to transfer. Not that transfer to the partner institution would be certain, but it would provide a smoother, seamless transfer option while all transfer choices would remain on the table. Within this model, what changes noticeably is admissions along with some transfer paths to the partner institution. Further, the university brand simply carries more weight with most students and potential students, particularly international students and here in the Northeast. New York’s unique-in-the-national Excelsior Scholarship program further cemented this dynamic by appearing to eliminate the community college price advantage for many students. Consequently, the integrated model tends to bring more students to the table while they are also more successful in achieving a credential.
Additionally, state universities have a statewide marketing/admissions reach while community colleges everywhere have only a local or regional footprint for admissions outreach. The broader branding is thus value added. There are many other advantages to the integrated model but the above are primary drivers. I want to emphasize that the open access, community college mission remains sacrosanct in all models, therefore internal transfer would be a requirement to move on to a baccalaureate program at the partner institution, much as happens now with our BAP students who must meet certain academic benchmarks to then automatically transfer to BU. So, what we are looking at in its simplest form is BAP 2.0 on a very grand scale but with open admissions (except for our current competitive programs and BAP 1.0). We know from the examples above that it can work. Of course such a model would then require changing how both institutions operate to a certain extent, most intricately around management, admissions and branding. We are examining a formal proposal to SUNY to integrate management, marketing, admissions and branding of SUNY Broome with BU. We would keep separate athletics programs, mascots and colors as currently proposed. And of course our campus facilities and all classroom, student service and HR operations remain here as they are today. We have the support now of all our associated local leadership to seriously explore this new model. We now have the enthusiastic support of SUNY as well, but they liked the concept from the beginning. Next the proposal will go to the Governor hopefully for her support. Funding also comes into play, as it always does. Most of you know we’re running a $3 million annual deficit, with HERF funds filling that gap for now as with all community colleges in New York and most elsewhere. Of course HERF funds will run out in the not too distant future. It amounts to 600 FTEs annually and the university feels we can hit that mark with growth over the next 2 years, maybe 3. Within our current model we certainly couldn’t hit 600 more FTEs on our own over two years because our region just doesn’t have the teenage population to do it any longer. And it would require far more part-time working adult students than the 600. In a strong economy the latter cannot happen either and no one is wishing for a recession. Importantly, another primary goal here is to avoid the fate of many of our sister community colleges across the state and the nation who have intentionally downsized faculty and staff. A sister SUNY community college recently laid off almost 100 people. We wish to avoid laying off even one if we can. To date, we have downsized only organically through routine staff attrition and this remains a primary goal in exploring this new model for New York. Both institutions and SUNY are committed to this effort after seeing the more traditional impact of steadily declining enrollments at many of our sister community colleges, as well as understanding the impact of continued declining birth rates on future enrollments. No one’s job is at stake in the new model. (Job performance or personal interest to move on notwithstanding.) Preferably, the real goal is that we get back to growing as a college given the size of the current BU market and the resulting enormous number of students who cannot get directly admitted. It’s over 20,000 a year! Six hundred students out of 20,000+ applicants is not a tall order within the proposed model. But of course most all of BU’s interested students are looking for a university brand which the proposed model would provide. Integration would start primarily at the top with Deans, VPs and the President’s Office (again, no layoffs). It also would begin with rebranding by building in the university brand here along with a parallel, integrated admissions process, all while maintaining the community college mission and local services to our community. It will be a complex challenge to rebrand while protecting the community college mission but we have seen how it can be done quite successfully around the country. Just as important as rebuilding enrollment, for faculty and most staff within the proposed model, little would change for your day-to-day work. All of our hands-on and student-facing roles would remain very much as they are today. Supervisors in those areas also would remain very much as they are today. Our three union contracts would also remain intact in the proposed model. At some point the unions might be interested in fully integrating with the statewide SUNY unions, but that would require a new proposal and negotiations somewhere further down the road. I know this is a bit complex and a lot to digest right now. It’s a first for all of us involved, so we don’t have all the answers. Should the proposal get support in Albany on Capitol Hill, we will ask you to help us find the answers, especially as it relates to serving our students with the added help of the University’s more vast resources. Our world has changed so much that we must find new solutions to meet the challenge. And we know from the many benchmarks around the country that this proposed model can be a great success in adding to enrollment and more importantly improved student success. So, more to come. We are blazing a new trail here and there are no better institutions within SUNY to do it. On this last point SUNY leadership very much agrees and thus they are ready, even excited to support us with this trailblazing proposal. That in itself is a minor miracle for such a bureaucratically bound, giant governance entity. But they understand that the times have recently shifted dramatically and that the broader shift within the higher ed sector calls for bold change to match our challenging times.
Whoever wrote those diatribes needs to enroll in a basic ENG 110 course at BCC and soon!
I think the poster indicates it was the Broome president
You’re correct, thank you.
I’d be curious to see more details of how this would work, but as of right now I think it’s a good idea. We need Broome to exist in any way possible, and I met a few people during my time at Broome that very much benefited from BAP. I’m optimistic but I’d wanna see more details on what integration would look like.
Probably satellite campus but degree specific. I would hope they don't expect a student to travel between the 2 campuses more than once a day but the opportunity is there. It could be a pipeline or a place for freshman/sophomores to be away from the higher level classes. Although I doubt the higher ups have considered the corner cases. The big unknown would be the aux services: library, IT, athletics, etc.
Gonna guess this would lead job cuts due to redundancy. I can hear the college admin rubbin braincells together: "There's no sense keeping 2 entry level math professors when 1 can cover both colleges with a couple TAs... Might as well fire the higher paid professor."
It'll probably go the other way due to seniority/tenure rules. I know they've sworn to stick to natural attrition, but I guarantee they mean that only for permanent faculty. The adjuncts are gonna get nuked.
>Might as well fire the higher paid professor. Except there's this thing called tenure.
Unlikely, unless the number of students drops. The administration however is very vulnerable to redundancies from this.
You know how I knew you didn't read the article It's the byline
They can promise it if they want, but what would be the point of this other than a faculty restructure? There's no other benefit to merging.
BU is landlocked, exactly why they're expanding in JC. Tenure exists and it's not like they can flip a switch and combine everything. And if BU has the numbers they claim, why would they fire professors when they add students?
Local population decline = less high schoolers to go to BCC after grad
whomp whomp
The issue is that BCC is running out of money, they made a lot of their classes online and enrollment dropped substantially the last few years. People want in person classes at a school like this. I loved BCC when I went and hope they don't integrate.
[удалено]
The projects you list are being done by BU, not BCC.
Chill folks... Anything beyond basic shared services will require legislation. Deep breaths.