On March 16, the California Community College Board of Governors acted to approve the application for Center status of College of the Sequoias Hanford. An official announcement ceremony was held March 17 at the COS Hanford Center.
COS has been working for the past three years to submit the required Needs Assessment and application to the state Chancellor’s Office for the Hanford site to be designated an official college “Center.” A district earns this designation when it can demonstrate the investment of substantial resources to provide complete educational services at the campus location. This new status becomes effective July 1, 2015. This milestone marks a point in District history when COS, now a three-campus college, has both of the newest campuses designated by the state as college Centers.
The COS Hanford campus was fully funded by the area taxpayers through Measure “C” and constructed with no additional state facilities money. The campus opened in 2011 and Dr. Kristin Robinson was hired as the first campus Provost; she continues in that role today. Since that time, it has been the goal and desire of the District to develop the campus to qualify for official Center status.
Center designation makes a campus eligible for state facilities funds and ongoing augmentation in state funding to the general fund once student enrollment grows to 1000 Full Time Equivalent Students (FTES). As the FTES in Hanford grows to 1000, the District will earn $1M in ongoing general fund revenue.