Agency Overview
With a biennial budget of approximately $250 million, which is divided between the agency and the community colleges, the Wyoming Community College Commission (WCCC) is unique in operations and structure. With one of the “Big Five” General Fund agency budgets, the agency and its administrative expenditures are actually relatively small leading to high operational efficiency. The agency employs only 13 full-time staff with an administrative budget of just $5.9 million—a figure that includes a large proportion of the technology and MIS infrastructure of the colleges and agency. More specifically, only about 2.4 percent of the WCCC budget actually goes to agency operations and system wide technology. The balance goes to programs, services, and the colleges in the form of operational funding for their campuses, their libraries, and Wyoming Public Television, as well as programmatic funding for the following:  Adult Education, High School Equivalency Certification, the Wyoming Investment in Nursing (WyIN) Program, the Veterans Tuition Waiver Program, and the Wyoming Adjunct Professor Loan Program.

Agency Background and Structure
WCCC is an independent or “separate” state agency governed by seven commissioners appointed by the Governor.  Within this structure, the WCCC has statutorily defined responsibilities. The mission and purpose of the WCCC is to provide coordination, advocacy, funding, and accountability for the community college system on behalf of the State of Wyoming. The statutory functions include:

General Functions: advocacy, establishment of tuition rates and residency requirements, development of a common transcript and transfer process across the community colleges and UW, provision of administrative computing resources to the colleges, and development of, and updates to, the Statewide College System Strategic Plan

Coordinating Functions: development and maintenance of data systems and IPEDS reporting, maintenance of the common course numbering system used by the community colleges and UW, coordination of academic/vocational-technical programs, and facilitation and support of the Educational Attainment Executive Council

Administrative Functions: establishment and promotion of the statewide priorities for the college system, ongoing development and maintenance of the college funding allocation model, preparation and justification of budget requests in support of the agency, college operations, and college capital construction and facilities maintenance, calculation of fund disbursements, administration of the WyIN Program and the  State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), and maintenance of community college service areas

Approval Functions: consideration and approval of all new community college programs, review of existing programs, consideration and approval of enlargement or formation of college districts, maintenance of the format of college budgets, prioritization of capital construction projects (new construction, renovation, and capital renewal), and approval of college acquisitions of real property

Review/Report Functions: reporting of accreditation, enrollment audits, financial audits, and enrollment and financial data, ensuring uniform reporting across the colleges, provision of reports and recommendations to the Governor and Legislature, and publication of annual reports of statewide priorities, the Statewide College System Strategic Plan, and other reports as required

Implementing Functions:  development and maintenance of the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS), identification of areas of educational concern, establishment of operational and reporting timelines and deadlines, advancement of legislative proposals, promulgation of administrative rules and regulations, and implementation of agency policies and procedures

The Standard Budget appropriations for WCCC are categorized to support the agency functions, colleges, and programs in the following manner:

 

Administration (Agency operations including technology for the agency, the colleges, MIS, SLEDS, common course numbering system, common transcript/transfer process

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State Aid (Funding allocation to the colleges with incorporation of performance metrics)

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Increased Retirement Contributions and Health Insurance Premiums (Reimbursement to the colleges for employee benefits)

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Library Funding (Reimbursement to the college libraries in support of their educational resources required as a part of accreditation)

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Adult Education (Administration of state appropriations and a federal block grant for local programs located throughout the state)

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High School Equivalency Certification (Oversight of testing and consideration of age waivers)

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Wyoming Investment in Nursing (Funding for nursing faculty, student financial assistance, and student loan processing)

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Veterans Tuition Waiver (Tuition assistance for eligible students)

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Wyoming Adjunct Professor Loan Repayment Program (Financial assistance to high school instructors who provide concurrent instruction)

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Wyoming Public Television (Operational funding administered through Central Wyoming College)