College of Western Idaho tells JFAC rapid enrollment is straining capacity; EWA amount limited by 3% cap

Kevin Campbell, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the Joint Finance-Appropriation Committee that the College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) budget request and background appear in the committee’s legislative budget book and that the college’s FY2024 state appropriation was $20,816,700.

Gordon Jones, president of the College of Western Idaho, told JFAC the college is seeing rapid growth across programs. “We are up this year 13% in our academic enrollment,” Jones said. Jones and the LSO noted differences in how enrollment is counted: Campbell said CWI reports nearly 22,000 for‑credit students and more than 30,000 students served in the 2023–24 academic year; Jones later said CWI serves “over 31,000 individuals.”

The growth has produced capacity constraints in several career and technical education (CTE) and health programs. Jones said the college has “almost a hundred people on our nursing waiting list” and “a 1,000 students total on wait lists across all of our programs.” He told the committee the primary bottlenecks are facilities, faculty (including accreditation-driven student‑to‑instructor ratios), and student support services such as academic advising.

Why it matters: Committee members pressed CWI about how the college is using state adjustments and enhancements and how the EWA is calculated. Representative Petzke and others raised questions about why CWI’s EWA award shown for FY2026 is $265,000 when the underlying formula would have produced a larger number. Jones explained that a 3% cap applied under State Board guidance limited the amount that could be funded for the college in this budget cycle. “For us, it would have been $493,000 but, because of a 3% cap, you’re seeing the amount that we were able to put in,” Jones said.

LSO’s Campbell walked the committee through five‑year budget trends, noting average base‑budget growth of about 6.6% and explaining that EWA (previously shown as non‑discretionary adjustments) produced ongoing additions in some years and reductions in others. Jones and members discussed recent enhancements CWI received for nursing capacity, STEM seats and outreach; the college requested a $265,000 ongoing enrollment workload adjustment for FY2026.

Committee requests and follow-up: Committee members asked CWI to provide a breakdown of capacity constraints—facility limits, faculty shortages by program, and support‑services gaps—so the committee can evaluate funding requests. Co‑chair Grow asked that the detail be provided through Kevin Campbell. Jones agreed to provide the requested breakdown.

Additional discussion points: Jones described programmatic adaptations tied to local industry demand. He cited an electric‑vehicle technician program that included industry vehicles and said faculty bring factory training to campus; he also referenced plans to expand mining‑technician training for permits coming online in southwest Idaho. Jones emphasized affordability: CWI has not changed tuition for eight years, charging $139 per credit hour, and he said that many two‑year programs prepare graduates for jobs that pay $50,000–$100,000 locally.

Jones and members also discussed compensation. Jones said CWI faculty and staff have market disadvantages compared with four‑year institutions: “all of our faculty at CWI have the same exact qualifications as any 4‑year faculty member … yet on the pay scale, we are somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000 … below those comparable roles.” He and members noted that advisors and other student‑support staff are similarly under market and that pay compression affects hiring and retention.

No formal committee action or vote occurred during the CWI presentation. The college provided figures and pledged to provide the committee a program‑level breakdown of capacity constraints and EWA impacts.