By Betsy Finklea
Dr. Kyle Wagner appeared before the Dillon County Council to give them an update on Northeastern Technical College.
Dr. Wagner introduced the new director of the Dillon campus, Jamie Thomas.
Dr. Wagner said NETC is doing a great deal of things in Dillon County.
He gave the council a printed slide presentation. In the careers slide, it was broken down by age groups. In the students under age 25, about 250 work in retail trades and 400-500 work in accommodations such as hotels and services. As a college, they are trying to get more skill-set to that age group and drive them into careers in Dillon County such as manufacturing and transportation. Dr. Wagner said they are getting students under 25 and engaged in college involved in these areas through Career Connect, which has driven enrollment since its introduction.
Dr. Wagner directed them to a sheet on the four-year trend of student enrollment. In 2015, less than 30 people in Dillon were enrolled. This year, there were over 180 enrolled, which is quite a bit of growth in less than four years.
Dr. Wagner is excited about dual enrollment where students enroll in college classes in high school. When they engage with students in high school, they have better opportunities to build skilled workers. In 2015, they had one student participate. This year, they have 245 students (an unduplicated number) participating. “We are super excited about that,” said Dr. Wagner.
Dual enrollment in Dillon is funded through the lottery. It pays up to $600 per credit hour. There is a new funding source called SC Wins for all students who qualify. This is an additional $50. The School District awarded one mill, which is approximately $71,000. This is used for a 100 percent scholarship to help students who can’t afford it to cover their classes.
NETC was one of 44 colleges nationwide and the only on in South Carolina to get this. The cost of two classes is $2,200. If they get Pell, the classes are paid for and the student gets about $1,000 extra to pay for books and fees.
Dillon County approved $125,000 which goes to support the campus. He said they are not in the same situation they were in four years ago. Almost 200 students use the campus, and the campus is going to a self-sustaining model where the number of students support and pay for the operation of the campus.
They will use the county money for the future growth of the campus. The school recently purchased 26 acres at that location. They have two proposals for two different buildings to go on site at the campus – one is for 20,000 sq. ft. and the other is for 60,000 sq. ft. The campus will open to the view of the port. The two buildings are focused on training people for the workforce in Dillon County. It will be open warehouse space for logistics, the trucking industry, welding, and those areas. They are leveraged now to grow the college and the service area. They have moved the college to a business model budget not a public sector budget.
He showed a chart that showed the student savings for those who take advantage of dual enrollment. He also noted that NETC has the cheapest tuition of their sister institutions in the region. The dual enrollment program has saved taxpayers over $489,000 by these students taking these courses in high school instead of waiting until college.
Some of the programs they are offering at the Dillon campus this year will be the Harbor Freight Technical Training Program held at Harbor Freight; the Industrial Plant Maintenance Program held at Perdue; Fundamentals of Warehousing Logistics in conjunction with Harbor Freight, Forklift Certification, OSHA Certification; CAN and Phlebotomy; LPN in January; and over 150 distance learning and online classes.
Dr. Wagner said one problem that they have is space, and they do not have the needed square footage to do the training. Dr. Wagner said his main message is that NETC is growing and their engagement with Dillon County is growing tremendously. They are committed to doing more and more in Dillon County. He said now that the campus is self-supporting they will be able to do more things in Dillon county. He said there is a great deal more going on behind the scenes. “We are excited to be here,” said Dr. Wagner. “We can’t do it without your support, the school’s support, and community support.”

Here are some pdfs of the presentation:
Northeastern Technical College – Dillon County Milage SU2019
Northeastern Technical College – Dillon County Council Presentation – 7.24.2019