Mineral Area College to provide courses at Cape College Center
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – On Wednesday, members of Missouri’s Coordinating Board of Higher Education approved Mineral Area College to begin offering different academic programs at Cape College Center.
MAC President Joe Gilgour said this decision will prove fruitful for the community.
“Our mission is access to affordable, quality education, and we’ll now be able to provide that to this community,” he said. “Through students who want to transfer to the university, it’s going to create more opportunities to do that, as well as students who want to complete technical degrees and go straight to work, we’ll be doing that as well.”
With Cape Central High School located across the street from Cape College Center, this move provides a level of convenience for those students who wish to stay at home and attend a community college.
“Having an option right here locally is really going to open up a lot of doors for students who maybe have thought about going to college, maybe thought about community college, didn’t have the resources,” Gilgour said. “Now it’s right across the street from the high school.”
Cape Girardeau Public Schools Superintendent Neil Glass said no matter the path a student takes, the end goal is the same.
“We want to prepare our kids for the future, to be successful, whatever path that they chose,” he said. “So if they start out at a certificate level and go out and experience the world for a little bit, they can come back here and get their two-year, and they can move on to their fourth year. We really are looking at rounding out the whole student.”
On a similar note, Glass said the decision has filled a void in the community and is a win-win for everyone involved.
“We’ve got a pathway for students to get a certificate, a two-year degree, or a four-year degree, and we see that as a great win for this community, for these students, for our families,” he said. “It’s just a win all the way around.”
MAC will begin offering an Associate of Arts program this fall.
