Noah Johnson | Daily Press The Bay College of Board of Trustees hosted several U.P. legislators and representatives for a lunch and discussion on Friday at Bay. Guests included State Representative Dave Prestin, State Senator Ed McBroom, State Representative Greg Markkanen and Congressman Jack Bergman. Representatives from the offices of Senator Elissa Slotkin and Senator Gary Peters also attended.

ESCANABA — Upper Peninsula legislators came to Escanaba to meet with Bay College on Friday for lunch and discussion.

The Bay College Board of Trustees and President Dr. Nerita Hughes hosted several local legislators and representatives, including State Representative Dave Prestin, State Senator Ed McBroom, State Representative Greg Markkanen and U.S. Congressman Jack Bergman. Representatives from the offices of Senator Elissa Slotkin and U.S. Senator Gary Peters also attended.

The discussion revolved around topics such as student housing, the nursing program, and the direction of Bay as a community college.

Hughes talked about Bays’ growth, saying her goal when inaugurated in 2023 as president was to increase enrollment by three percent over the following three years.

The college was successful, as it more than doubled the goal and raised enrollment by eight percent.

“We’re continuously having people not just from the U.P. that are attending here, but we’re also getting people from downstate. And that’s great. However, The downside here is (when) we’re getting people from downstates; we don’t have any place to house them,” Hughes said.

The Escanaba campus currently has apartments that hold roughly 98 students and are full. To help alleviate the lack of housing, Bay works with Super 8 to house additional students. However, Hughes said the amount of money spent to utilize rooms at Super 8 over the past six years would be enough to likely build its own housing.

“$780,000 is what we have paid out for the Super 8. So, housing is a very high need for Bay College. We are unsustainable, you know if we operate in the manner that we’re operating right now,” Hughes said.

Bergman asked the room if the housing issue was only pertinent to Bay and not the rest of the Escanaba area. Several Bay College officials and others confirmed there is a housing shortage throughout the area.

McBroom said he was concerned with the direction of the college, saying he believed that in previous years, the college had focused on the community’s needs in a tactile and manageable way.

“Traditionally, it (Bay) was very focused on the workforce of the Upper Peninsula, and I don’t know if the intention is to shift away from that or not. But I’m not sure anymore what Bays’ focus is at this point, and that has me really concerned,” he said.

Hughes told McBroom the colleges’ focus has not changed, and is ramping up addressing the needs for workforce constituents.

“We’re working with literally folks across the street that we have not worked with, intentionally. So IMC (Independent Machine Company), EMP (Engineered Machined Products), and going over to Dickinson County and working with (them). So no, workforce; our shift has not changed,” Hughes said.

She clarified the change at Bay is how the college aligns its programs, participating in the Rural Guided Pathways Project, a program that encourages colleges and local community partners to work together.

“Guided pathways is how do we get them (students) — not only to confer their degree, but what happens after that degree,” Hughes said.

McBroom also shared his frustration with the college temporarily losing its Practical Nursing (PN) certificate programs after it was discovered that the program was lacking proper accreditation. Bay College was notified in 2018 that it would need proper accreditation by 2025 to continue to run the program. The college anticipates it will be reinstated in 2026.

“I’m a bit in the dark as to where Bay is going. This loss of certification on the LPN thing is just astounding. And it’s difficult to be your advocate in Lansing when those kinds of things are happening,” McBroom said.

Hughes understood McBroom’s frustration but reiterated she was not president of the college until 2023. She also pointed out that other colleges were impacted, not just Bay.

McBroom said he appreciated the direct answer regarding the LPN program but felt her other answers were not “necessarily correct.”

Board Chair Nicholas Chenier said he feels, as a board member of four years and a local business owner, that Bay values the local workforce and local small businesses.

Prestin shared many of the same concerns as McBroom regarding the direction of the college and the pause on the LPN program.

He additionally spoke about the dual-enrollment program, saying constituents are expressing frustration as their children are having significant trouble with the curriculum online through Bay.

“It’s a challenge because a lot of the instructors are not getting back to them. There’s a lot of firewalls, a lot of the website information is antiquated, old (and) invalid. I just see a lack of focus on the mission going forward,” Prestin said.

He also expressed frustration with the state of the LPN program, questioning how the college didn’t take action to get the proper accreditation if it was aware of the needed changes back in 2018.

“Where’s the accountability? Who lost their job over this? Cause somebody should have,” he said.

Prestin was reminded that the deans of nursing who would have been in charge of getting the proper accreditation are now gone or retired.

“I’m just saying somebody’s got to be keeping track of that,” Prestin responded.

After the meeting, Bergman said it’s essential that the entire “crew” of state and federal legislators get together for updates.

He said it’s in the purview of the states to drive their own education system, but it’s important he stay informed.

“I look at these meetings as an update, find out what’s going on and what, if anything, there’s a nexus at the federal level. So, it was great to hear all the viewpoints,” Bergman said.

He also shared that the current chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee, Rep. Tim Walberg, is a Michigander, which is “good news” for the state.

“You’ve got to think that Michigan is going to get a really good look, a serious look at being the example for the country when they have the chair,” he said.

The Board of Trustees will have its next meeting on May 21.