The Yavapai Community College Foundation as set aside Tuesday, April 7 for a special online drive to help students affected by COVID-19. Money donated to the Foundation that day with go to assist students with emergency grants who are at risk of not completing their education because of COVID-19.
Yavapai Community College District Governing Board members will hold their next monthly meeting on Monday, April 6, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. via video conferencing. The meeting will be held on Zoom, a remote conferencing service that combines video conferencing, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration. A link to Zoom will be provided by the Governing Board at its cite, https://www.yc.edu/v6/district-governing-board/meetings.html.
The community may click on zoom and observe the entire meeting.
Yavapai Community College president Dr. Lisa Rhine announced on her Friday, March 27 video update that the College will offer summer session classes online or through remote delivery. Registration for summer classes begins April 6.
The College posts it updates at https://www.yc.edu/v6/college-police/covid-19/.
You may view Dr. Rhine’s March 27 message in the short video below.
At its March meeting, the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board members were presented with a detailed study commissioned by the College to determine the efficacy of possibly purchasing land and locating a hotel on property adjacent the Sedona Center. The Board appeared most interested in purchasing an additional five acres adjacent the Center. If a purchase was made, the Board would then decide its best use.
The study claimed that “Market justification exists for development of a hotel adjacent to Yavapai College’s Sedona Center.”
Third District Representative Paul Chevalier appeared to strongly oppose a hotel (owned by a third party who leased land from the College) while urging the College to pursue a possible purchase of an additional five acres. His vision was to use the land, if it could be purchased at a reasonable price, to consider expanding the existing culinary school.
It was clear that no one on the Board (or College executives) wanted the College to consider building and owning its own hotel.
Following below is a copy of the key findings in the executive summary section of the extensive report provided by the research team. The entire report can be found in the March Governing Board Agenda by clicking here.
There is also a video of the Board discussion about the hotel following the summary.
Existing Conditions
Student housing exists only on the Prescott campus. The current inventory caters to more traditional college aged students (18 – 21 years old) with semi-suite units (100% of inventory) and lacks unit type diversity typically attractive to older cohort populations.
Between fall 2015 – 2019 the College’s housing occupancy percentage has decreased from 97% to 93%; with an average annual occupancy rate of 94%.
The majority (78%) of YC students are enrolled part-time and have an average age of 31 years old.
Yavapai College has the highest room and board costs compared to its peer institutions; 43% greater than the average of its peer institutions. Yavapai College has 221 student housing beds; 33% less than its peer average.
Currently Yavapai College does not offer any on-campus faculty/staff housing.
Housing Market
Regional population growth and limited multi-family housing development has tightened the housing supply in the market and increased pressure on those desiring a residence near campus.
Since 2015 there has been a population increase of 5% around both the Prescott and Verde Valley areas. During the same 5-year period, multifamily housing development has increased 6% and 5%, respectively, and vacancy rates have decreased in both areas.
The total cost to live in an on-campus semi-suite is equal to the average survey reported off-campus housing cost ($1,110/month). It is a value proposition issue as students consider the value from the cost of on- campus semi-suite and meal plan compared to the available apartments and the independence they have living off-campus.
Hotel Demand
Market justification exists for development of a hotel adjacent to Yavapai College’s Sedona Center. (emphasis by Blog)
Tourists represent the target market as tourism is the primary industry in Sedona attracting over three million visitors annually and accounting for 77% of the city’s sales tax revenue.
Three primary sources of demand were found to exist for a hotel; Individual Business Travelers (IBT), Group and Convention, and Leisure.
Housing Demand
Insufficient demand exists to build new standalone on-campus student housing or faculty/staff housing facilities
Although there is a net demand for 74 beds of student housing on the Prescott Campus and 56 beds on the Verde Valley Campus, P3 Developers typically require nearly 400 beds of new development for projects to be financially feasible and self-sustaining.
YAVAPAI COLLEGE HOUSING & HOTEL PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP ANALYSIS
The majority of student demand is from students who currently live with family/relatives, the group least likely to live in campus housing.
Although faculty and staff demand equals 25 units, P3 developers will require more scale to meet their required financial returns.
Faculty and staff indicate a lack of interest in on-campus rental housing despite survey tested rates being within range of renter’s current costs. On average renters reported total housing costs within 22% of survey tested rates. Faculty & staff focus on quality of life factors in their housing decisions, e.g. travel time to campus, but are still price conscious.
The parents of two University of Arizona students filed a class action lawsuit in federal court Friday, March 27 seeking refunds for room, board and fees from the body that oversees Arizona’s three public universities after classes moved online because of COVID-19. The lawsuit alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment and conversion. The claims all result from students not receiving the services they paid for.
The lawsuit was filed against the Arizona Board of Regents and seeks class action status on behalf of all people who made those payments at ASU, UA and NAU for the spring 2020 semester and who subsequently lost the benefits they paid for. It seeks a jury trial.
According to the plaintiffs lawyers, the purpose of the lawsuit is to ultimately require the Arizona Board of Regents to return those funds to the students and their parents.
The lawsuit was filed as students began petitions and sent letters to universities trying to get money back.
Yavapai Community College has issued an updated response to the Covid 19 pandemic on its web site. Click here to go to the following web site for daily updates. https://www.yc.edu/v6/college-police/covid-19/
It is recommended that you check its web site daily for updates. What follows below is the update issued March 23 by the College.
For the health and safety of students, faculty, staff and the college community, Yavapai College has announced that all classes and services will only be offered online for rest of the spring semester (May 10, 2020).
Academic Instruction
Student Services & Campus Operations
Work from Home
Events
Travel
If You Are Sick
More Information
COVID-19 is an emerging disease and the CDC is still continuing to study its transmissibility and severity to prevent spreading in the United States.
Further updates will be communicated as necessary.
For the most up-to-date information, please go to the Community College web site by clicking here.
Following is the information the Community College has provided staff, students and the public as of March 22
Academic Instruction
On March 23, face-to-face classes will move to online instruction with few exceptions until at least April 6. All classes will either be 100% online, or will have some online component. For some classes, face-to-face instruction will still occur periodically. If they have not already, students should receive communication from each of their instructors on the status of their class delivery.
Any instances of face-to-face meetings, including in-person instruction, will practice social distancing protocals and those areas will be cleaned and sanitized frequently.
Per Governor Ducey’s mandate, all physical education classes that require face-to-face meetings and cannot be moved online are cancelled. Please contact your instructor for the status of your class.
All OLLI and Community Education classes are cancelled and offices are closed for the remainder of the semester.
To keep our students safe, the YC FEC will follow the direction of Governor Ducey regarding k-12 closures. Accordingly, the FEC will not be in session until at least 4/10/20
Student Services & Campus Operations
All campuses and centers will remain open, but most buidlings on campuses will be closed beginning March 23. Only designated service and instructional areas will remain open. Please use this page for more information.
Specific services, including student and public services are being monitored on a case-by-case basis. Services will primarily be online, but in some cases will remain open, or will be closed. A listing of services can be found here.
Events
All college events, including student, and public events are being monitored on a case-by-case basis. A listing of events that have been cancelled or postponed can be found here.
Travel
Students and employees who have traveled to a country designated as a level 3 by the CDC are asked to stay home for 14 days from their time of exposure as per CDC guidelines.
Students staying home should contact their instructors.
Employees staying home should contact their supervisor and HR business partner.
At this time, all college sponsored travel outside of Arizona is suspended until further notice.
Work from Home
All non-essential employees should be telecommuting from home unless they have approval to work on campus from their supervisor. If you believe your job cannot be performed from home, please contact your supervisor and human resources business partner.
Supervisors should continue to update plans for the departments on how services will be covered and should share this information with their Vice President regularly.
Working on Campus
If you are working on campus, please practice social distancing. It has been observed that some staff who remain on campus are gathering in clusters and talking with one another.
Even if you are not sick, please use remote communication (phone, zoom, facetime) to communicate with one another or remain 6-8 feet apart.
Avoid contact closer than 6-8 feet, do not gather in groups, avoid face-to-face meetings where possible, sanitize surfaces regularly and often.
If You Are Sick
If you are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, or are sick in any capacity, stay home and contact your healthcare provider. Students should contact their instructors if they are sick. Employees who are sick should contact their supervisors and their HR business partner.
More Information
Please communicate calmly and thoroughly through these difficult times. We encourage people to refer to the information on the CDC Website
Please direct all employee concerns to Human Resources (928) 776-2217
Please direct all student concerns to the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs at tania.sheldahl@yc.edu (928) 776-2128 .
COVID-19 is an emerging disease and the CDC is still continuing to study its transmissibility and severity to prevent spreading in the United States.
Further updates will be communicated as necessary.
Yavapai Community College issued the following notice regarding cancellation of events at the Performing Arts Center.
In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and in cooperation with the Center for Disease Control’s guidelines to restrict public gatherings of 50 people or more, Yavapai College Performing Arts Center will be cancelling events at least through March 30. These include:
– Colin & Brad: Scared Scriptless (March 21)
– YC Music Department: Viva Europa! (March 22)
– In Focus Film Series: SIGGRAPH Animation Festival (March 24)
– National Theatre Live/Satellite Series: All About Eve (March 26)
– CUES Student Matinees: Wilde Creatures (March 26 in Camp Verde and March 27 in Prescott)
– Mike Super: Magic & Illusion (March 27)
– Yavapai Symphony Association (March 29 & April 5)
Colin & Brad: Scared Scriptless, Viva Europa!, and Mike Super: Magic & Illusion may be rescheduled for later dates to be announced.
Refunds will be available at the YCPAC Ticket Office, which will remain open, in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center (1100 E. Sheldon Street, Prescott), during its normal business hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Wednesday & Friday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; and Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Either by phone or by email, YCPAC staff will contact all patrons who have purchased tickets to one or more of the cancelled performances.
Yavapai College will continue monitoring the situation as it develops. If additional cancellations become necessary, we will announce these on our website (www.ycpac.com) and Facebook page. Programming updates will also be available through the YCPAC Ticket Office: (928) 776-2000 or ycpac@yc.edu.
FAQ’s
At this time, YCPAC events through April 1st are being refunded. If there are further cancellations, they will be announced on the website as soon as confirmation is received. |
The draft maintenance budget for 2020-21 was unveiled at the March Community College District Board meeting. In total, the College will spend about $5 million in maintenance projects in the District. Almost all of the maintenance will occur on the Prescott Campus.
The most expensive project is the Performing Arts Center on the Prescott Campus. It is estimated the College must spend an estimated $2.6 million to replace a failing HVAC system and put a new roof on the facility. It appears that most of this cost will be the responsibility of County taxpayers via their annual primary property taxes paid to support the Community College.
The second largest project involves the residence halls on the Prescott Campus. Maintenance on those facilities is estimated to cost about $1.2 million.
You may view Dr. Clint Ewell’s report to the Governing Board on this project below.
Maricopa Community Colleges have extended the spring break for all in-person classes one week through March 20, 2020.
All student activities and college events will also be postponed during this time period.
Source: https://www.maricopa.edu/coronavirus-2019-nCoV