Donna Shank knows how difficult it is for people in southwest Kansas to earn a university degree.

Twice a week for two years, she made four-hour commutes from Liberal to Wichita State University to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science.

Now a member of the Kansas Board of Regents, Shank sees an opportunity to make university access easier for students in the southwest quarter of the state.

“A lot of people now use a distance-learning program, or they just go to the community college and never go beyond that,” Shank said. “When you live far enough away, you can’t commute every day.”

A regents committee called the Southwest Kansas Access Group has been meeting since summer to discuss how to give students a better chance to earn university degrees.

Members have heard proposals that include everything from turning portions of community colleges into online education centers to turning the former St. Mary of the Plains campus in Dodge City into a “senior college” where community college graduates could finish their education.

The issue has become political. Republican Tim Shallenburger stressed the need for university access in southwest Kansas during his unsuccessful campaign for governor, and U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts recently endorsed the Dodge City plan during a visit there.

“I hope we’ll have a wide range of programs from a wide range of institutions,” Shank said. “I think we’re looking at a combination of distance learning and face-to-face learning. But I don’t want to rule out the Dodge City proposal, either.”

Need recognized

Regent Fred Kerr, Pratt, said the group was still trying to gather information about what programs were needed in southwest Kansas, especially in Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal.

But he said almost everyone agreed the area should be served more by state universities.

“I’d say there’s a consensus there’s a need,” he said. “We still are conducting surveys and trying to more fully document what the need is.”

A report prepared by Dodge City Community College noted that five public higher education institutions ” Kansas University, Kansas State University, Emporia State University, Washburn University and the KU Edwards Campus ” are within about an hour of Topeka. That leaves the remaining three ” Pittsburg State University, Wichita State University and Fort Hays State University ” to serve the rest of the state.

Several universities ” including FHSU, ESU and KSU ” already offer some degree completion programs on the Internet.

Kerr said he especially wanted colleges and universities to address the education needs of the booming Hispanic population in western Kansas.

“Their needs have not been emphasized in the proposals we have so far,” he said.

Ambitious plan

The most ambitious of the proposals for southwest Kansas comes from Richard Burke, president of Dodge City Community College.

In 2000, Burke organized a task force of education, business and community leaders to study turning the former St. Mary of the Plains campus in Dodge City into a Western Kansas Regents Center.

The college, which closed in 1992, has been maintained by Dodge City and Ford County.

Burke said several universities could provide degree completion programs at the site for community college graduates. He said he’d like the programs to start in four “critical areas” ” education, computer science, allied health and business.

He said Dodge City Community College could handle administrative staff “including student services” and he’s working with Dodge City to provide maintenance at the site.

Universities would provide faculty who could teach through both face-to-face and distance education methods.

“They wouldn’t have any overhead,” he said. “They wouldn’t have to build a single building. It’s almost too good to be true.

“When you look at a map and see one-fourth of the geographic area of the state does not have an opportunity for public education bachelor’s degrees, there’s something wrong.”

Money situation

Other proposals made by Washburn University, Emporia State University and Fort Hays State University also would mix distance learning and face-to-face learning, but at existing community colleges.

Cost will be a factor in which programs are approved, Kerr said. He said he hoped the committee would make a decision by spring.

For example, ESU’s plan would cost $3.2 million to install 17 degree programs at a single site and $60.8 million at all 19 community colleges in the state. Tuition would pay for portions of the project.

“We haven’t really talked about how it would be funded,” Shank said. “With the money situation, we obviously need to make sure we have enough money for our existing universities and community colleges first.”