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Yavapai College $69.5 Million Bond Projects Near Completion

Yavapai College logoSedona AZ (May 10, 2013)Yavapai College is nearing successful completion of all projects funded under the $69.5 million Yavapai College General Obligations Bond Issuance of November 2000. Yavapai County residents voted in 2000 to approve a $69.5 million bond to facilitate renovations and new construction, outlined in the district’s 2000 Campus Master Plan, which will be completed this year.

Dr. Clint Ewell, the college’s vice president of finance and administrative services, reports that at least 80 percent of the $69.5 million was spent in Yavapai County with local businesses, suppliers, contractors and service providers.

“The people of Yavapai County have always supported Yavapai College, and we’re delighted to honor that support with improvements that they can be proud of,” said Dr. Penny Wills, Yavapai College president. “We’re here to provide quality higher learning and cultural resources for the diverse populations of the county, and the bond has certainly contributed to our ability to live up to that.”

Over the past 12-plus years, this bond has funded such projects as new construction, renovations, land purchases and improved infrastructure in Chino Valley, Paulden, Cordes Junction, Prescott, Prescott Valley, Sedona and the Verde Valley. A final project, a shared electronic message board with the Mayer school district, is due to be completed by June.

Projects completed under the bond funding include:

Chino Valley campus: Purchased 30 acres, electrical and data building, greenhouse for hydroponics and aqua-culture water tank, fire pump system and well, classroom building (first LEED Certified Silver Building in Northern Arizona), modular classroom, farrier barn, and regional technology training center;

Cordes Junction: Renovated space to create a new education center in partnership with Mayer High School;

Prescott campus: Major renovations and modernization to the four main academic buildings, computer commons and library, arts complex, physical plant modernization and new utility infrastructure;

Prescott Valley campus: Renovation of existing center, upgraded HVAC systems, construction of addition to existing center and wing of PV Library, new computer lab and police training and skill development center;

Sedona: Purchased five acres to provide room for expansion;

Verde Valley campus in Clarkdale: Added Building L with science labs, classroom space and offices, added Building M with classrooms and community meeting space; added student support services, labs and training facilities to Building L.

Last year, an architecture and engineering firm completed a district-wide facilities condition assessment to determine the condition and estimated life expectancy of the site and building systems. Yavapai College’s overall facility condition index was .06 on a scale of 0.0 (excellent condition) to .8 (need to renovate); any score above .8 means replacement is needed. Earlier this year during its accreditation site visit, the Higher Learning Commission praised the college for the condition of its facilities throughout Yavapai County.

“This is a direct result of the passage by county voters of the 2000 bond program for capital construction and renovation,” noted Steve Walker, college vice president of advancement and executive director of the Yavapai College Foundation.

The college has begun its next 10-year Campus Master Plan planning process and is inviting community members to share ideas at two public meetings on Wednesday, May 15, 2013. The meetings will be held simultaneously from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the Prescott campus (1100 E. Sheldon St., in the Rock House) and the Verde Valley campus (601 Black Hills Drive, Clarkdale, Bldg. M, Room 137) for people in each community.

Yavapai College, established in 1965, provides quality higher learning and cultural resources for the diverse populations of Yavapai County. The College offers 76 different programs of study available to students at the college’s centers in Prescott (main campus), Clarkdale (the Verde Valley Campus), Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Sedona, and the Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) by the Prescott Airport.

Yavapai College is among the few community colleges nationwide that has the combination of a community Performing Arts Center, art gallery, nationally competitive athletic program, on-campus student housing, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) program, and an award-winning Family Enrichment Center, which serves as a lab school demonstrating best practices in early childhood education.

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5 Comments

  1. I am appalled at the funding being thrown away on this college. I am not in favor of its expansion and do not find any justification for its requests to expand.

    We have a disproportionate number of mediocre schools in AZ serving their own bottom lines and not the students.

    If a college fails to prove that the government isn’t bankrolling its attending student population and its students “paying to go” are a fraction of its population, there is no need for this school to be more than a feeder school. It should generate revenue and support itself via instructional online courses better than bricks and mortar expansion. The faculty and local government fail again.

  2. Recent investigations of the for-profit college industry show that they over-charge their students, give them a subpar education that can’t be put to good use, and load them up with significant student loan debt. Even worse, these for-profit diploma mills aggressively target veterans for their hard-earned GI Bill dollars because GI Bill dollars fall outside the federal cap that for-profit schools otherwise face on federal financial aid. That leads the for-profit industry to aggressively target veterans, treating them as “dollar signs in uniform,” as Holly Petraeus has said. And this robs veterans of the promise of the GI Bill – to help them gain a high-quality education as they transition back to normal life.

    If you go to or went to a for-profit college and had a bad experience, or if you are a veteran or active duty service member who had a bad experience at a for-profit college, then we’d really like to hear from you. And if you are veteran who was scammed by a for-profit, you may qualify for loan forgiveness (more info below).

    Please email us at forprofits@studentdebtcrisis.org and tell us your age, what school you attended, how much debt you have, and how you believe you were taken advantage of. Did you face unrelenting and aggressive recruiters? Was the quality of the education worse than you were promised? Were you promised job help and then got none? Did they promise you a job in a field that their education doesn’t qualify you for? (Some students even find out they aren’t eligible to sit for a licensing exam that’s necessary for some jobs.) Did they trick you into a high-interest loan? We’ll help you submit your story to the US Department of Education, which is just starting public hearings on student abuse at for-profit colleges. Please send us your stories as soon as possible.

    Don’t forget to include your full name and phone number – we may want to talk to you directly to find out more and help you share your story with the media and/or decision makers.

    Finally, some good news for veterans who feel they’ve been scammed by a for-profit school: The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) has partnered with The Veterans’ Student Loan Relief fund to help active-duty military, veterans, and family members defray the student loan debt they accumulated while attending colleges operated by unscrupulous for-profit education companies.

    The IAVA website is the new home for the Fund, which awards grants of as much as $5,000 to student vets who have been taken advantage of by for-profit colleges. To apply, please visit:

    http://iava.org/loan-relief?org=403&lvl=100&ite=6803&lea=179087&ctr=0&par=1

    Thanks for all your help and support.

    Sincerely,
    Robert Applebaum, Executive Director
    StudentDebtCrisis.org

  3. Now that you’ve signed the petition(s) in favor of Senator Warren’s “Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act,” it’s time to take the next step. I’m writing today to ask you to please contact your Senators today and ask them to co-sponsor this groundbreaking piece of legislation that would allow students to borrow at the same rates as the big banks.

    To easily find out who your Senators are and how to get in touch with them simply call the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

    Thank you, as always, for your continued support and cooperation!

    Sincerely,

    Robert Applebaum
    StudentDebtCrisis.org

  4. As the July 1st deadline for the doubling of interest rates on federally subsidized Stafford loans draws near, StudentDebtCrisis.org has partnered with a number of organizations such as: Young Invincibles, Youth Build, SparkAction, Our Time, Urban Underground, One Million Degrees, The Student Nation, United Negro College Fund, League of Young Voters, EdTrust, PIRG, Equal Justice Works, Campus Progress, USSA, NCLC, NCAN, Rock the Vote, La Raza Opportunity Nation, Moms Rising and Rebuild the Dream to participate in a national Social Media Day of Action.

    Millions of current and former students will be taking to the web to make their voices heard in Washington and I’m writing to ask you to participate as well.

    Here’s How You Can Participate:

    Tweet Your Representatives:

    Click here to access the Student Debt Crisis comprehensive list of all 435 members of the House – find your Representative and click the link next to his or her name to send a pre-loaded tweet demanding #DontDoubleMyRate

    Other Sample Tweets:

    Video: We believe in #DreamsNotDebt. Check out why we can’t afford for fed student interest rates to 2x 7/1 http://bit.ly/11paUgP
    How many burritos worth of #StudentDebt do you have? Check out @YI_Care’s interactive #infographic http://debt.younginvincibles.org/ #DreamsNotDebt
    Write to your Representatives:

    http://action.edtrust.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=14066
    Post on Facebook:

    Video Alert! We believe in #DreamsNotDebt. Check out why we can’t afford for federal student interest rates to double on July 1st http://bit.ly/11paUgP
    Sign These Petitions:

    Tell Congress to Bank on Us!
    $51 Billion in Student Loan Profits – Tell Congress This Has to Stop!
    Don’t Raise the Interest Rates on Student Loans
    Support the Student Loan Fairness Act – HR 1330!
    Stand With Me and Tell Congress: Stop Student Loan Interest Rates From Doubling

    Participate in #DreamsNotDebt Twitter Town Hall

    We’re having an all-day Twitter Town Hall on Thursday, June 13th from 9am to 5pm EDT. Join us to see which special guests will drop in. We’ll be using the hashtag #DreamsNotDebt. You can submit questions to @YI_Care ahead of time or tune in and ask your questions during the chat.

    Thank you, as always, for your continued support! Hope you can join us for this monumental day of action!

    Sincerely,

    Rob, Natalia, Kyle, Aaron & The Student Debt Crisis Team

  5. I don’t know if this is something that you would include in your “Eye”. If so, below is the information for a public service announcement:

    Registration is now open for the following Yavapai College classes:

    Ballroom Dance: Rumba, Cha Cha, and Swing – DAN
    136 201, Duration: Aug 19, 2013 – Dec 9, 2013,
    Yavapai College Clarkdale Campus – I Building
    Aerobic Room

    and

    Country Western Swing – DAN 198 210, Duration:
    Aug 19, 2013 – Sept 21, 2013, Downtown Camp
    Verde Parks and Rec. Classrooms 206 & 207

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