Mar 12, 2016 2 min read

Shortly after I moved to Washington from Harrisburg in 1995, the county commissioners convened a public meeting to measure support for a local community college.

At that meeting, which I attended, representatives from Penn Commercial Business/Technical School, Northern West Virginia Community College, Washington & Jefferson College and Citizens Library all spoke against there being a Washington County Community College.

I disagreed with them, and now I join A.J. Williams in supporting a local community college. Williams wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in the Feb. 29 edition in support of that idea.

However, having come from the Harrisburg area and being familiar with Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC), I would like to suggest the HACC model be considered. HACC is a creature of the area school districts, not Dauphin County. The HACC board is appointed by the school directors of each member school district. Students who reside in member school districts receive a lower tuition rate than those who do not, much like Allegheny County residents do at the Community College of Allegheny County. An advantage of the HACC model would be the inclusion of Greene County school districts in membership, thus extending the base tuition rate to those students.

I recognize that no local government, county or school district has an excess of funding right now. But without local, post-secondary education, our students miss out on affordable opportunities. The HACC model doesn’t preclude ongoing contributions from other governmental entities, such as the county.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners should start the process of establishing a local community college by appointing a group of interested citizens, including some school directors, to conduct a feasibility study and make recommendations.

Martha M. Quimby

Washington