San Antonio community college system could lose funding in merger

From The San Antonio Express-News: St. Philip's College in San Antoniocould lose up to $7 million in grants annually if Alamo Colleges trustees merge their five colleges into a singly accredited system, a committee report says. St. Philip's likely would lose its designation as a historically black college in a merger, a status that brings in $5 million to $7 million in federal grants every year, the report found. Potential losses cited in the report outweigh savings of $235,000 per year that a merger would generate. From The San Antonio Express-News: Trustees for the Alamo Colleges in the San Antonio area are exploring the possibility of merging the five independent community colleges into one singly accredited system, a move that would be hotly protested by faculty and staff. Prompted by major setbacks in accrediting the district's newest college, Northeast Lakeview, trustees have directed administrators to form a committee to weigh the pros and cons of merging some or all of the institutions. Each of the Alamo Colleges--San Antonio, St. Philip's, Palo Alto, Northeast Lakeview, and Northwest Vista--is individually accredited, whereas most community colleges are part of singly accredited systems. Northeast Lakeview, which moved into a new $125 million campus last fall, had hoped to get on the fast track to candidacy after submitting its first application in December 2007. But that didn't happen.