Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Higher Education Ewa And Ctes topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
North Idaho College warns EWA cut amid 15% enrollment gains, seeks faculty to expand nursing and CTE
Summary
North Idaho College officials told JFAC their enrollment is rising sharply (about 15% fall and spring), yet the FY2026 Enrollment Workload Adjustment produces an ongoing reduction of $446,800; the college asked for funds to hire five nursing faculty and other CTE instructors and for help with cybersecurity costs.
Dr. Nick Swayne, president of North Idaho College, told the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee that NIC is experiencing a sizable enrollment turnaround — up roughly 15% in fall 2024 and another 15% in spring — but the EWA formula produces an ongoing reduction for FY2026 of $446,800.
Kevin Campbell, Legislative Services Office analyst, presented NIC’s budget history and the staff summary showing an average five-year base-budget growth of about 4.2% and noted that NIC’s FY2024 appropriation had significant one-time and enhancement adjustments. Campbell explained that the EWA is a trailing three-year average and can penalize institutions that rebound quickly after earlier declines.
Why it matters: College leaders said the EWA cut will create a painful budgetary gap precisely when the college is adding students and needs more faculty and clinical capacity for healthcare and other programs. NIC asked for targeted investments to expand nursing, welding and cybersecurity capacity.
Specific requests and capacity issues described: - EWA impact: The college reported an FY2026 EWA-based ongoing reduction of $446,800 despite strong, recent growth; President Swayne said the trailing-average nature of the formula explains the mismatch with current enrollment. - Nursing and clinical capacity: NIC asked for five nursing faculty positions to increase first‑semester nursing intake from 40 to 60 students (a 50% increase). President Swayne said clinical supervision requirements (often 10:1 student-to-instructor ratios) and external accreditation rules constrain how many students can be admitted without hiring additional faculty. - Welding: NIC seeks a welding instructor to expand first‑year capacity and reduce the effect of first‑year students leaving for industry jobs before completing the second year. - Cybersecurity: Swayne described substantially increased cybersecurity costs (budget roughly doubled from about $250,000 to over $500,000 annually) following regional incidents and increasing attack volume; he asked for support to secure student and employee data.
Other institutional details: - President Swayne said NIC has outreach centers in Sandpoint and campuses in Rathdrum and Post Falls, and that many support services are available off the main campus. - Taxing authority: Swayne said NIC has taxing authority in Kootenai County; out-of-district students (from counties such as Bonner, Boundary and Shoshone) may be reimbursed to the college by their county commissioners under existing arrangements. - Enrollment drivers: Growth was described as broad-based: increases in traditional transfer programs (~5%), strong dual-credit growth (~40%), and about 30% growth in CTE programs according to NIC's vice president.
What was not decided: Committee members discussed options for holding colleges harmless from EWA swings, but no formal legislative action was recorded in the transcript. NIC asked the committee to consider support for the governor’s CTE/capacity proposals and for specific recurring faculty positions.
Ending: Swayne emphasized NIC’s 92-year history, the community’s need for trained nurses and other technicians, and the college’s desire to sustain retention and graduation improvements as enrollment rebounds.
