Comments on: Ann Arbor Satellite Campus for WCC?

By: Phil Dokas

Phil Dokas — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:26:31 +0000

“Overall, Ann Arbor zip codes 48103, 48108 and 48105 account for 22.5% of the student population for the fall and winter semesters from 2008 to 2010, compared to 29.2% for the two Ypsilanti zip codes.” I wonder why 48104 was excluded. All of southeast Ann Arbor is in that zip code, including the entire downtown area (Kerrytown, Burns Park, the entirety of UM campus, etc). Especially since that's the zip code Tally Hall and the downtown library are in (not 48103 as Landau wondered). As of 2008 there were ~16,000 households in the zip code. I wonder what percentage of them contain WCC students and what percentage they make up of WCC's population. P.S. A really useful graphical zip code lookup site I found for this comment is [link]

By: John Floyd

John Floyd — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:07:41 +0000

@13 LiberalNimby, I think it would be great to have a WCC satellite campus downtown. This is simply the wrong time for additional capital spending – and none is needed to have WCC classes in town.

By: LiberalNIMBY

LiberalNIMBY — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 01:58:19 +0000

Well, I think it would be hard to argue that a satellite campus downtown wouldn’t be a major shot in the arm for retailers and our entrepreneurial culture. I, too, hope that this truly isn’t predicated on a real estate deal involving a city “partnership.”

By: John Floyd

John Floyd — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 05:05:49 +0000

It will be interesting to see what real estate transaction the county board is considering.

Does seem that the subsidized convention center is considered a Done Deal by the college trustees. Sounds like they think they know more about it than the public does.

By: fridgeman

fridgeman — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:44:55 +0000

I would like to see the Ann Arbor Public Schools pull out of Skyline and rent that facility to WCC. That would help tremendously with the AAPS budget crisis, and WCC would get a facility with plenty of parking and easy freeway access.

I highly doubt that WCC has 1,000 students within a mile of downtown AA, as stated in the article. I think a downtown AA facility would actually attract more adult students (i.e. competing with Rec and Ed) as well as high school students (for college credits). If they were to take my advice and use Skyline as the WCC satellite, I think that location would be more attractive to the student pool on the west side of the county.

By: Lou Glorie

Lou Glorie — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:32:54 +0000

WCC has some great (overqualified, competent) teachers and much of the instruction there is very high quality. In fact, I would prefer my kids take as many undergrad classes at WCC as available because the classes are not held in huge lecture halls–so yes bang for the buck, plus better instruction in some cases.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:11:10 +0000

I imagine WCC classes at UM would mainly meet at night. UM is trying to spread classroom use around a bit and use those off hours better, and giving up space during the day would be a PR problem. But it’s an uphill fight–increasingly students are refusing even to take classes that meet on Fridays (notice how busy the South U bars are on Thursday night?), much less inconvenient times during the day.

It’s also increasingly common for students to take classes that are perceived to be difficult (Physics 240, Math 215/216) at community colleges in the summer–the bang for the buck is thought to be greater (where = means a good grade, not necessarily a better understanding of the material). I’m not sure if it’s in the U’s interest to allow a competitor in their own buildings. On the other hand, I don’t doubt WCC might do a better job with some classes, for reasons I probably shouldn’t articulate here.

By: Dr Data

Dr Data — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:00:34 +0000

I am surprised to read that UM is willing to provide/rent classroom space, but WCC would be a good partner. What would happen if UM students chose to take calculus from a WCC instructor at a greatly reduced price.

UM does have lots of empty classrooms for 8:00 – 10:00am time slot as well as evening time. This is because UM students like classes between 11:00am – 3:00pm so classroom space has been built to meet this demand.

I would expect the WCC students to struggle to park on the UM campus, but I have noticed plenty of them using AATA buses. The UM campus is well served by AATA buses.

By: ROB

ROB — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:46:50 +0000

Sounds like they have money they don’t even have yet already spent, not to mention the magic parking spaces… sounds like they also attended the Kwame Kilpatrick School of Creative Public Finance while visiting Detroit. Good luck getting taxpayers to approve ANY type of millage in this environment – what dreamers these folks are!!

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:30:23 +0000

Two additional points:

I am bothered by the suggestion that this discussion should be conducted in private. Thanks to the reporter for bringing us the information in the story. It was very revealing. Unfortunately, if most official discussions are conducted in private, we will not be able to evaluate moves taken by public bodies that will “impact others”.

Also, note Mr. Whitworth’s statement (re the library “synergy”) that “We’ve got parking.” Is he referring to the underground parking at the Library Lot? That parking seems to be committed about 400% already. It will allow permit parking to be moved from Maynard. It will be for retail customers in the immediate area. It will be for library users. It will be for hotel users. It will be for the conference center. It will be backup for loss of parking elsewhere. And it will be for students at WCC? Truly magical.