Howard Community College supporters rallied to urge continued funding for the growing college as it seeks money for a health science building.
“As you know, HCC’s current nursing and allied health facilities are extremely overcrowded, and our enrollments in these critical work force areas continue to grow significantly,” said Kate Hetherington, president of HCC, at a public hearing on the county’s fiscal 2010 budget this week in Ellicott City. About 50 residents sported yellow stickers asking for support.
“Given that hospitals and other medical providers are facing a serious shortage of thousands of nurses, limiting the growth of HCC’s nursing program could have serious implications for access to health care for many in Howard County.”
About 7,000 additional nurses are needed to meet statewide hospital demands by 2010 and 12,300 nurses by 2015, according to the Maryland Hospital Association, which released nursing shortage numbers in 2007.
Amy Johnson, an accelerated nursing student at HCC, told officials that funding HCC was also crucial.
Nursing “is at a critical juncture and staffing levels are stretched to the limit,” she said.
HCC offers an education at a much more affordable rate than four-year colleges, officials said.
“If HCC is not affordable to these students, there are no more options,” said Jim Truby, chairman of HCC’s board of trustees.
The college asked for about $2 million in design funding for the building and also funding for parking and other requests since it was experiencing enrollment increases.
The college saw a 6.26 percent increase in full-time equivalent enrollments for this fall with 7,905 enrolled credit students.
Howard officials still are working on the budget, but County Executive Ken Ulman said the outlook, like everywhere else, was grim.
“I don’t think I have to say it. … We’re in the worst economic crisis most of us have ever lived through,” he said.
Ulman acknowledged, though, that funding HCC was pivotal.
“The heath professions are a real perfect fit for the college, because there are a lot of jobs here,” he said.
Budget requests are due from all department heads by Feb. 9. This is followed by a review of the requests and another public hearing. The budget is presented to the County Council on April 20.
