Contact information: 413/775-1420
Web link:

Contact: Robert Pura
Phone: 413/775-1410
E-mail:

Media contact: Liz Carroll
Marketing & Publications
413/775-1420 | carroll@gcc.mass.edu

Release date: February 28, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February Board of Trustees meeting

The GCC board of trustees approved an annual operating budget of $19,402.967 for the period July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005 . Board Chair Kevin Parsons and President Robert L. Pura characterized the budget as the bare minimum needed to provide access and excellence to Greenfield Community College students. "We are right on the edge of beginning to close the door on higher education for those of our students who are most in need,” said Pura. Cost-cutting measures, increasing support from the GCC Foundation and innovative programs have helped to preserve the college's mission; but, agrees Parsons, "We've been treading water and grabbed the last life preserver and there isn't any more to grab.”

In his report, Pura cited disturbing trends in federal support for higher education, including the first reduction in the higher education budget in ten years, inadequate support for student grant programs such as Pell and Perkins grants, and a proposal that would redefine higher education to include "for profit” unify public and private entities. The result of such a redefinition would be an increase in the number of institutions seeking the same pool of federal aid.

Pura introduced GCC faculty/staff members Scott Melanson, Dawn Stevenson and Sarah Scarchilli-Janus, who told board members about an innovative new summer program that helps incoming students make the "college connections” that keep them in school. "Programs like the College Connection are a testament to this college's ability to meet students' needs,” said Pura. "Were it not for the GCC Foundation – creating this program would not have been possible.”

Continuing to meet student needs will require a new approach to advocacy, said Parsons. who described a new model supported by area legislators that would bring together everyone from trustees and presidents to alums, staff and students to lobby collectively in Boston . "Public higher education has to get organized,” said Parsons. "Our time is here and we can make a difference.”

For more information, please call (413) 775-1410.