After months of conversation, officials from Bellevue College and Washington State University are on the brink of signing a partnership agreement, bringing the former community college under the state university’s wing.
Bellevue College trustees unanimously voted on Thursday, May 22 to authorize the school’s president, David L. Rule, to sign a non-binding document called a ‘memorandum of understanding.’ The document lays out the groundwork for the collaboration, or what Board of Trustees Chair Steve Miller called “an agreement to explore” without creating any binding resolutions.
“Bellevue College will be a different kind of institution. There’s no interest on [WSU President] Dr. Floyd’s or my part to replicate something that already exists,” Rule said. “This is something brand new for the state of Washington.”
As outlined in the memorandum, Bellevue College would become Washington State University- Bellevue College (WSU- Bellevue College) and would continue to offer its array of two-year degrees, but will augment its four-year degree offerings over time.
Despite the name change, Board members told meeting attendees that Bellevue College would not become a WSU satellite campus. The WSU- Bellevue College faculty would be considered a separate faculty, and faculty currently employed by Bellevue College would remain so.
“I think that WSU started off with an approach which was that we would become basically a branch campus, and that’s not what we’re discussing at this point. I think there’s been some movement towards saying that Bellevue College will be a different kind of institution,” Miller said.
Although the MOU lays out the framework of the partnership, there are many questions left unanswered at this stage. At the forefront of the next stage of discussion is what the new arrangement will cost.
For the 2014-2015 academic year, WSU students who are Washington State residents paid $11,396 in tuition. In comparison, 2014-2015 tuition for residents attending Bellevue College was $4,614.
In line with the college’s open access mission, Rule said they are unsure at this time what students can expect to see in terms of tuition, but both parties will be looking to make any changes to tuition as minimal as possible.
“We found that during the conversations that we couldn’t get much further than what is represented in the MOU. We’re not sure what the tuition will look like because we don’t know what the funding situation will be,” said Rule.
Both colleges have different funding models, and the current funding models will likely be insufficient for the joint venture, Rule said. Bellevue College and WSU will both pursue legislation to avoid increasing costs to students, per the memorandum.
As the Bellevue Reporter previously reported, officials at Bellevue College were approached with the partnership idea by WSU President Elson S. Floyd in November 2014. Discussions between the two institutions have been underway since January 2015.
“It’s a really exciting conversation to have. We’re looking forward to what comes next, and I think the MOU does a really good job at narrowing and refining what that conversation is going to deal with,” said WSU spokesperson Kathryn Barnard-La Pointe.
As the first chapter draws to a close, multiple members of the board stated they would like the next phase of conversation to move more quickly. “We may not have finished the discussions, the negotiations, but we can see that there’s enough in it for both sides and that there’s a willingness to give and take to make this work,” said Miller.
Rule said he is hoping to have the document signed by the beginning of June.
More information can be found at http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/wsu/
