The map above shows the area which was to be served by the Community college. The circle in the center is where the campus location will be, making it so no student would have to drive as much as 45 miles to classes.
March 4, 1965
A last-ditch stand is being made in a three-county area for a community college. The counties included are Adams, Brown and Highland and the proposed location of the college is at a point near Fincastle where the three counties join.
The purpose of the Community College is for students of the three counties to be offered a higher education at a normal fee. The project has been given great effort by Francis Henderson, of Adams County, Richard Slusher, of Brown County, and Richard Pulliam, of Highland County, all superintendents of the schools of their respective counties.
The school heads have requested a resolution to allow a college for areas of under 100,000 and over 70,000 population. This resolution was asked to be passed by the Ohio Legislature to reduce the populations of the various areas in the state.
The Community college would be two years offering technical and vocational courses. After completion of the courses offered the student could then go on to the college of their choice for their final two years.
The estimated cost of the college, including buildings, land and equipment, was $2,000,000. Of this amount the three counties would be around $500,000 which would be equivalent of a one mill levy to furnish their part.
The Community college expects to have a tuition of $300 per year of student enrollment. The total tuition would amount to around $850 of which a third would be furnished by the state, a third locally by the mill levy and tuition make up the remainder.
The proposal has already been presented to the Ohio Board of Regents, who govern the colleges and universities of the state. Their suggestion, in a reply, was for a branch of some state university to serve the purpose. They have asked a survey of the area by Miami University. Should this be a reality it would mean a tuition cost of around $850 per student.
A branch college would be entirely under the domination of the Ohio Educational System.
In a recent check of the 1964 graduating class of the seven high schools in Adams County there were 304 graduates and 56 went on to college and 19 to trade schools. Of this number that went on to college, more than 50 percent went to Kentucky because of the tuition costs. Ohio colleges have reached a height of cost that can’t be afforded in this area.
Each year Adams County has more students graduating from high school going to college. Morehead college, Morehead, Kentucky, seems to attract the largest number of any single school.
The movement is not receiving the welcome cooperation they expected from the Board of Regents and it is about the same old story as in the past, everything for the big cities and to heck with the rural areas. They think nothing of spending hundreds of millions of dollars in areas that now have higher education available while those in the poor areas are forgotten fast.
All organizations in the three-county area are asked to pass resolutions urging the community college. Further information on such may be obtained from the County Superintendent of Schools in each of the three counties involved.
