Board members for the College of the Ouachitas voted Tuesday night to join the Arkansas State University System.
The governing board for the two-year college in Malvern made the decision unanimously. Last year, the board heard presentations from leaders of both the University of Arkansas System and the ASU System.
"The bottom line is there was not a bad choice to be made. Last night we just made the one that we felt like was a more comfortable fit for our students and our staff and our communities that we serve," said board member Bill Fowler, a retired banker and farmer.
Known as Ouachita Technical College before 2011, the college enrolled 1,691 students in the 2017-18 academic year, according to the state Department of Higher Education, down from peak enrollment of 2,207 in 2005-06.
Preliminary data for this fall showed a decline for many community colleges, including College of the Ouachitas, which had about 1,250 students in fall 2018, including students concurrently enrolled in high school.
The move still requires approval from accrediting body the Higher Learning Commission and the ASU System board of trustees.
Chuck Welch, president of the ASU System, said in a statement that he was grateful for the board's decision.
"The college has researched system alignment for several years and conducted a very thorough analysis of available options. I am absolutely thrilled they concluded the ASU System is the best fit," Welch said.
Welch will work with College of the Ouachitas President Steve Rook on a merger agreement, and, pending approvals, the college could officially become a part of the ASU System in January, according to an ASU System announcement.
Malvern is about 40 miles southwest of Little Rock.
The ASU System is based in Little Rock but mostly includes schools in the northeastern part of the state: Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, as well as two-year colleges ASU-Beebe, ASU-Mountain Home, ASU-Newport and ASU Mid-South in West Memphis. The institutions also have secondary campuses and sites.
In a phone interview, Welch said adding the College of the Ouachitas "allows us to significantly expand our geographic footprint." He described the college as in "very good shape financially."
Dating back several years, however, college officials had expressed concern about accounting requirements leading to liabilities because of workers' post-employment benefits "even if the liability was paid by another entity," according to minutes of a May 2018 board meeting.
The liability related, at least in part, to having employees on state insurance, according to the board minutes. Public university systems in the state, including the ASU System, provide self-funded health plans to their workers.
The minutes described "a $6M liability on the books that we will never actually pay out." The board minutes stated "this recorded liability affects our ability to borrow money."
Fowler, asked about shifting college workers to a private plan, said "we had visited with other major [insurance] carriers." But he said rates "can skyrocket" more easily with a small number of workers if there's a large amount of illness.
Regardless of that concern, the board would have still considered joining a larger system, Fowler said.
"I think small schools that have joined systems have come to realize the benefits," Fowler said, noting that a system is able to provide comprehensive legal and human resource-related support.
Rook, president of the college for 2½ years, said no decision has been made about a new name for the college, referred to as COTO and pronounced as a two-syllable word. Possibilities include ASU-Malvern and ASU-COTO, he said, with plans to gather feedback from the campus before making a decision.
Metro on 02/07/2019