Rich Mountain Community College in Mena (Polk County) will join the University of Arkansas System if the UA’s board of trustees gives final approval at its meeting May 25-26 at Cossatot Community College in De Queen (Sevier County).
Rich Mountain’s board of trustees, in a unanimous vote Wednesday, approved a resolution to join the UA system on July 1.
UA President Donald Bobbitt said he was thrilled to hear that news and would voice strong support for the merger in a presentation to the trustees at their meeting next month.
“We’re always look for very well-managed institutions that have a good team in place, and certainly Rich Mountain fits that bill to a T,” he told Arkansas Business. “We’re looking at institutions that have some strategic advantage or purpose for our mission.”
Bobbitt said Rich Mountain also fits that criterion, being on the western border, just north of two two-year schools and just south of the four-year University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.
“It just makes perfect sense that they can share resources, share knowledge,” he said. “So we think that there’s efficiencies by bringing (Rich Mountain) into the system.”
He also said a goal of UA is to make a “clear pathway” for all students to transfer from two-year campuses to those that offer four-year degrees.
Bobbitt said the merger would be financially advantageous, although it wouldn’t be a “windfall” because the system exists not to make money but to serve Arkansas. He also said size is an advantage in negotiating contracts for large purchases, like software. Bobbitt said costs being spread out to more institutions lowers the amount everyone pays.
If UA finalizes the Rich Mountain merger, it will become the sixth community college and the 12th campus in the system.
Rich Mountain President Phillip Wilson said, “Being part of the system is going to bring a new level of prestige for us…It was an opportunity we just could not pass up.”
He also said the merger would be financially beneficial because the UA system has more purchasing power to negotiate contracts.
Board Chair Sue Cavner, in a news release, said the merger would “provide greater opportunities for those we serve.”
UA officials approached Rich Mountain months ago about merging. It has about 950 students.
The community college was founded in 1973 as Rich Mountain Vocational-Technical School serving Polk, Scott and Montgomery counties under the Arkansas Department of Vocational Education. Following discussions in the 1970s about forming a community college, state Rep. Ode Maddox introduced legislation that established Rich Mountain Community College on July 1, 1983.
Pulaski Technical College of North Little Rock is also weighing a potential merger with the UA. The college had an enrollment of 7,650 in the fall semester, down from almost 12,000 in the fall of 2011.
Rich Mountain has also experienced declining enrollment, like many two-year schools have as the economy continues to improve, Wilson said.
Bobbitt spoke to Pulaski Tech’s board of trustees on March 28 about the possibility of the two-year school joining the system.
He said Pulaski Tech is strategically located near the four-year University of Arkansas at Little Rock and that several other four-year UA schools would welcome transfers. Discussion of a merger is continuing, Bobbitt said. “There’s a lot of synergism that comes from taking a look at Pulaski Technical College.”
In March, a UA spokesman said the UA System is “willing to explore potential partnerships with interested institutions that would make strategic sense for both parties and the constituencies that are served.”
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