At the March 18 meeting of the Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees, held via teleconference call out of precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the trustees unanimously voted to include 300- and 400-level courses in five existing tuition discount programs.
The discount programs include the following: continuing opportunity, Native American Ute Nation, district employer-sponsored, second homeowner and senior grant. The discounts have long been applied to students taking 100- and 200-level courses. But since the college is no longer charging different tuition rates for these and upper-level courses, trustees agreed it made sense to apply the discounts to all levels of credit courses.
Trustees also voted for a $5 per credit ($10 per course) rate increase for English as a second language courses. Previously college administrators had proposed a $5 increase per year. However, in the two years since that proposal, ESL fees have remained flat, to allow faculty and staff a better opportunity to communicate and plan for the effects of the college-wide academic restructure.
On the second of three required reviews, per CMC policy, trustees voted in favor of a utility easement for Excel Energy on the grounds of the CMC Breckenridge campus. Final review and a vote are expected at the May board meeting.
The board heard a summary from college administrators about measures the college has taken to adapt operations to support students and employees during this time of response to the novel coronavirus. Those measures include staying in touch with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, local health departments, school districts, the Colorado Department of Higher Education and other entities to stay informed on the changing response to COVID-19: https://coloradomtn.info/covid19/.
Since earlier this month, the college’s departments of academic affairs, student affairs, information technology and other departments, as well as faculty, have been working to transition traditional face-to-face courses to distance learning formats for credit students. Trustees were also informed that the college will cancel commencement ceremonies scheduled for the first week in May.