Students Ask a Variety of Questions at Chancellor's Forum

  November 12, 2015  |   

In an effort to hear concerns and dialogue with students, Northwest Vista College President Dr. Ric Baser and Alamo Colleges Chancellor Dr. Bruce Leslie met with more than 100 students at the Palmetto Theater on Nov. 11.

The purpose of the student forum was to ask four major questions:

  • What are the three most important issues affecting students at Alamo Colleges?
  • What can we do as a community to address them?
  • If you had to pick a top (priority) issue affecting students, which would it be and why?
  • Looking specifically at communication with students, what can the Alamo Colleges do to more fully engage student in conversation about issues impacting them? How can the Alamo Colleges improve communication with students?

After brief introductions by Alamo Colleges Student Board Trustee Sami Adame and NVC's Student Government Association, which assisted with the forum, the students gathered in the Palmetto lobby to eat lunch and put their group opinions in a Power Point presentation. Some of the group representatives had a chance to go on stage and present their thoughts. The photos below are some of the opinion of students.

Both Dr. Leslie and Dr. Baser answered several questions from students and clarified some misinformation. Dr. Leslie clarified that tuition this spring is not going up 25 percent, as some students thought, but only 5 percent. He also addressed the reason the Alamo Colleges is going away from majors and focusing on concentrations. He said because so many Alamo Colleges students are taking more hours than they need, students are leaving without getting closer to their bachelor's degree and also in jeopardy of losing financial aid. By helping students understand what classes they need to take to transfer to a four-year university, they can accelerate faster.

Dr. Baser added the campus is getting an additional 500 parking spaces by next fall, and there's already talks going on to strategically schedule classes to help alleviate parking woes and give students more variety.

The students had the opportunity to ask questions in person or online using a QR code. Student forums were also planned with Dr. Leslie at Northeast Lakeview on Nov. 12 and St. Philip's College on Dec. 3.