Edison State's impact on Trenton

Mercer Business, Apr 01, 1996 by Sendzimir, Arri

Through the Program for Non-collegiate Sponsored Instruction, corporations are able to provide college-level credits for inservices and workplace courses that have been approved by the American Council on Education. This means employees who leave are prepared to be retooled, and those who remain are well-prepared for the challenges ahead.

All this activity is accomplished on a shoestring budget of $11.7 million, of which 55 percent is funded by the state and the rest by student fees. The college has a small beginnings of an endowment that now stands at $150,000, while its fundraising branch, the Thomas Edison State College Foundation, has assets that have recently grown to $500,000. Almost three-quarters of the budget is spent on staff salaries; the rest is split about equally between office expenses and computer maintenance and leasing costs.

The college, however, is operating in the black, and the major impediment to growth lies not in demand but in supply. "We get more than 40,000 inquiries a year," says Scheiring. "We can't seem to keep up with the demand for courses and course materials."

The habit of contracting for services instead of hiring into overhead has left Thomas Edison not only slim and trim (as Scheiring likes to say, "reengineering is finally catching up with us") but in possession of a large and growing rolodex of enthusiastic and committed subject experts.

The college has put these specialists to work at more than just mentoring students, and when it comes to outreach programs, many of them willingly serve pro bono. "Their participation represents an opportunity for them to see their ideas applied in the real world," explains Thurber. "Unlike the world of academia, where the theoretical often remains within the realm of abstract discussion, at Thomas Edison, expert opinion often results in plans and applications."

"I think there's an innate missionary character to academics, and I hope they never lose it," says Dr. Pruitt. "When all's said and done, they're attracted to education because they think people and society will be better for the work they do. Thomas Edison represents a chance to get back to some of the more basic things, which is to help people learn. If you wish, it's like giving people who've been trained as sportswriters a chance to be basketball players."

This past year, the experts asked by the college to help the Urban Mayors Association included individuals from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, the University of Pennsylvania's Consortium for Policy Research in Education, the Education Law Center in Newark, the League of Women Voters, and Rutgers' Center for Government Services, among others.

Thomas Edison has a particular sense of responsibility for the city and state in which it lives, and over the last five years, the college has helped address a number of problems, including assisting in the design of an innovative, community-based anti-drug program in Trenton, and a major study of the state's medical records management system.