Between caring for his brother on Mondays and Wednesdays, Gentilcore also works 30 hours a week at a retail store. He appreciates the flexible course schedule available at Salt Lake Tooele Applied Technology College's (SLTATC) main campus, where he trains.
The hallmark of these applied technology colleges, or ATCs, is a unique, noncredit course program called "open-entry, open-exit." In stark contrast to the traditional credit-based curriculum and semester schedules of most universities and colleges, the program allows students to gain vocational skills at any time of their choosing, and at their own pace, until they demonstrate competency required to enter the work force in their chosen field.
"It's really convenient for me," Gentilcore said. "At a regular school like Salt Lake Community College, I don't think they'd be as flexible as that."
If the Legislature approves a proposed merger of SLCC and SLTATC campuses during this year's session, however, it's unclear how much of that flexibility might remain. Utah vocational education schools such as SLTATC pride themselves on providing a unique learning environment to students apart from the traditional college atmosphere, but as in all issues educational in Utah, cost to taxpayers comes into play.
A Utah Board of Regents study last November concluded the two campuses duplicate services, and stated that a merger could educate students more effectively and at less cost to taxpayers. So important is this merger that SLCC ranks it first among priorities for the upcoming legislative session. The Regents, meanwhile, rank it second.
SLTATC, which operates seven training facilities throughout Salt Lake and Tooele counties in addition to its main campus near Sugar House, is one of eight ATCs in Utah that trains 3,690 full-time adult students and 2,217 high school students in the manufacturing, transportation and health care fields.
For years, the state's vocational training centers educated students under the governance of the Utah Board of Education. Then, the Legislature in 2001 granted these schools recognition and autonomy under the collective banner of the Utah College of Applied Technology. Lawmakers' action acknowledged the growing importance of vocational and technical skills training to Utah's economy. According to a 2006 Department of Workforce Services report, only 22 percent of new jobs in Utah will require a university bachelor's degree or higher, while the remainder demand technical degrees and training.
Years after the formation of UCAT, however, the number of campuses has dwindled from 10 to eight. Lawmakers merged Central Applied Technology College with Snow College to form a Snow College-Richfield campus in 2003. Lawmakers approved another merger during last year's session to join Southeast Applied Technology College with College of Eastern Utah.
The slow drip of mergers between UCAT campuses and institutions of higher learning across the state has raised the hackles of UCAT's Board of Trustees, which voted early this month to oppose the merger between SLTATC and SLCC. The Regents recommended "safe harbor" status from future mergers for six remaining UCAT campuses, but that only raised suspicion among UCAT board members that yet another merger was in the pipeline as Regents also discussed a merger between Dixie Applied Technology College and Dixie State College.
Administrators at UCAT campuses believe they have unique insight into the needs of vocational students apart from state community colleges, which offer vocational skills programs alongside traditional classes. SLCC President Cynthia Bioteau said her staff understands fully the needs of these students, as demonstrated by the legacy of the school's skill center, but UCAT brass worry that a diminishing number of campuses also means a diminishing power to lobby for increased funding and facilities.
"I fear that unique process [of educating vocational students] will be lost in the shuffle of a comprehensive community college as these mergers occur," said Thomas Bingham, the president of the Utah Manufacturers Association who also serves as SLTATC's board chairman and sits on UCAT's executive committee.
Far from an obscure notion of education policy, the question of what constitutes "open-entry, open-exit" programs for vocational and technical skills students is central to the debate. SLCC's Skills Center allows students to enter or exit course training any week of the year or semester, Bioteau said. SLTATC's programs, in contrast, let students begin or end their course training any chosen day.
Both the Regents and SLCC note that SLTATC serves slightly fewer than 1,500 students compared with the 27,454 credit or noncredit vocational students the community college moves through its vocational skills programs. Staff at SLTATC acknowledge as much, but stress that its small environment works to the advantage of its unique student population, which includes high school dropouts or "early leavers," immigrants learning English, senior citizens and single parents.
Given that unique student population, the SLTATC staff can't quite agree with the Regents' findings that their campus represents an unnecessary duplication of classes, programs and services already provided by SLCC.
"The titles and classes of both institutions may look similar, but our delivery system of services also attracts a different student population," SLTATC President Scott Snelson said. "That's why we're different."
Dave Buhler, interim commissioner of higher education, said SLTATC's concerns are overblown. No one owns a monopoly on "open-entry, open-exit" programs, much less vocational and technical education, he said. No layoffs are planned should the merger be approved.
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* BEN FULTON can be contacted at bfulton@sltrib.com or 801-257-8608.
