THE GORGE — Small Business Development Center activity and a cafe perpetually in the red drew the most questions from directors at Columbia Gorge Community College’s (CGCC) April 21 board meeting.
Greg Price, director of the Small Business Development Center, gave the SBDC’s annual presentation to the board. SBDC gives technical help and training for small businesses and entrepreneurs. They teach more than 30 courses and, Price said, brought more than $3 million in investments to this region of north-central Oregon this year and helped 11 new businesses get started.
Recently, five employees lost their jobs to funding cuts from CGCC and another resigned.
Each SBDC office has three funders: State money, and a smidgeon of federal money, which the host college is required to match.
At CGCC, the federal government gives each office $45,000 and CGCC has to pay $45,000 in matching funds.
In previous years, CGCC paid extra, from $90,000-$100,000. The SBDC then taught FTE classes, which the college claimed reimbursement for, thus turning a profit.
A few years back, Price successfully competed for about a quarter million in state money through HB 3410, with which he built a bigger FTE program run by additional staff. The goal was sustainable program supported by new revenue streams, he said.
That revenue stream, he hoped, would be a chunk off the college’s reimbursement for all that juicy FTE. With that, he could retain most of his new staff.
A single SBDC business course costs just 27 hours of live instruction. When CGCC teaches a regular FTE course, it takes about 510 hours of instruction, he said. So it’s “low hanging fruit” for the college’s budget.
For the last two years, CGCC provided the minimum in funding, simply matching the federal $45,000 Price said. Last year, instead of 49 FTE courses, he could only teach 20. Those 20 still netted the college roughly half a million, he said.
Price said that with better understanding of the financial processes, the SBDC and college are working together. “I know the college is very supportive of what we do, and I know it was a very challenging period for the college,” he said.
He hopes, in future, the board will consider funding an assistant manager who can help grow the program again. He is also looking for a local, bilingual adviser willing to work part-time.
Statewide, five SBDC centers have closed in the past two years — which prompted questions from the board because, for the previous 43 years, no centers closed. The closures are due to funding difficulties at host colleges, and conflicts of interest at the Eastern Oregon University office led by Rep. Greg Smith. CGCC’s center, which is stable, now serves Eastern Oregon’s former students.
New mandates in their federal contract relate to transition planning, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (one which CGCC is considering a class). About 60% of their clients are women.
Financial report
Next, Vice President Sam Draper gave monthly financial report. They’re in good shape for revenue, he said.
Expenditures are at 68% of budget, so the college is under-spending a little. He noted that for next fiscal year, he expects tuition and state appropriations to remain about the same. However, President Kenneth Lawson later noted enrollment is down by an estimated 10-15% this year — mostly in SBDC classes, GED, and English for speakers of other languages.
Asked about cafe always losing money, Draper noted it’s “a little bit of a public service.” The cafe and bookstore serve students on campus, but with the dorm less than full, they’re always losing money and the college makes up for their losses.
“If we could double the number of kids here on campus, we can probably really increase the amount of sales,” Draper noted. “It’s a perennial problem across higher education, the fact that food services and bookstores lose money; but we certainly should try to do better.”
Lawson said this will eventually be a priority problem. The bond projects include fixing up the commercial kitchen, which he hopes will bring in more revenue.
In other news
The board unanimously approved the proposal of five new transfer degrees.
Then, contractor Chris McKay reported on bond work. Projects are at the “hurry up and wait” stage, with plans issued to contractors, he said. Once they go through the designs, work will begin on campus.
Materials costs aren’t looking “too bad,” he said; costs have “escalated, but they’ve stabilized a little bit.” The college’s contracts seem to have just squeaked in before costs shot up. “We’ve seen roof prices on other projects skyrocket,” McKay said.
“Hold your breath for next year, but so far, we’re doing pretty well.”
Among other bond projects, Oregon Corrections Enterprises is making the bilingual signage for campus. OCE is a self-funded program staffed by adults in custody; they make furniture and signs of “fantastic” quality, McKay said.
Vice president Jarett Gilbert also presented on the college’s priority of “fostering economic growth, inclusive prosperity, and a thriving community” — measured by the employment rate of workforce students, in this case. This program grew during Covid-19 and has declined a little since. It serves displaced workers, adults and youth. Recently the college applied to include workers being released from jail, and has helped five such persons so far.
Finally, Sue Davis said scholarship applications are open until May 6, with some $200,000 set aside for that.
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