“Building the Lowcountry Economy: One Student at a Time”

January 10, 2012: Dr. Mary Thornley, President of Trident Technical College since 1991, addressed our club today. Dr. Thornley has received numerous awards and recognitions including the Joseph P. Riley Leadership Award from the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction from Phi Theta Kappa, and the Southeast Region Chief Executive Officer Award from the Association of Community College Trustees.

The title of her talk was “Building the Lowcountry Economy: One Student at a Time.” She began by presenting some broad facts about the current educational workforce landscape. There is a high correlation between lowcountry high school graduation rates and poverty rates. This is relevant because, for example, if a student attends Academic Magnet (99.5% graduation rate/13.2% poverty), s/he is virtually assured of graduation. If a student attends Greg Mathis Charter (1.8% graduation rate/95.3% poverty), then s/he won’t. The average for South Carolina is 73% graduation rate/76.1% poverty rate. All four of our school districts are below the state average.

Fall 2010 enrollment at Trident Tech was 15,790. 15,448 of those students were in-state, which makes Trident Tech the largest college in SC in terms of in-state enrollment. Are they prepared? The data indicates that only 8% of students enrolling at Trident Tech are prepared to come with no remediation. The rest need developmental/required bridge courses in reading, English and math.

There are 150 programs of study and 12 academic divisions at Trident Tech. The two largest programs are Associate in Arts and Associate in Science. Other large programs include Aeronautical Studies, the Culinary Institute, Engineering Technology, Law-Related Studies, and Nursing. Thus, Trident Tech is a truly comprehensive college. It offers programs at four campuses in a variety of formats and instructional modes. The TTC Online College currently has 12,000 enrollees and offers 7 programs and 19 certificates.

Dr. Thornley emphasized that ““our business model is a growth model.” She referred to Trident Tech’s vision statement: Trident Technical College’s vision is to be the leading force for educational opportunity and economic competitiveness in the communities we service.
Aside from the colleges that serve niche markets (the College of Charleston, the Citadel, Charleston Southern), the choices left to students are Trident Tech, for-profit colleges, or to not go to college at all. Nationally, for-profit colleges are more expensive than those at public and many non-profit institutions, students take on a lot of debt, and credits often don’t transfer.

As reported by CHE Higher Education Study Committee, “Over 85% of the new jobs now require some level of postsecondary education. That statistic further emphasizes the need for increased education and training for adults as well as recent high school graduates.”

Submitted by Loretta Wilson, Keyway Committee