A program getting the ax at Shoreline Community College will have a statewide impact.
The speech-language pathology assistant program is one of two being phased out as part of $2.4 million in budget cuts at the college. The other is cosmetology.
Shoreline is the only community college in the state offering a speech-language pathology assistant program. Many of its current students live in under-served areas in Eastern Washington.
The loss of the program comes at a time when speech-language pathology assistants were gaining credibility — with a voluntary certification process passed by lawmakers this year and an up tick in inquiries from medical providers looking to hire.
“It’s like a perfect storm,” said Susan Sparks, a professor in the program who helped build it into a statewide training program over the last seven years. “After putting together all these classes, recruiting, and driving all around … it’s really heartbreaking to put so much time into something and have it fail because of budget cuts.”
The program is small. Current enrollment is about 17 students, who will be able to finish out their programs, some to as late as winter 2011.
College administrators made the best decision they could with the numbers in front of them, Sparks said. “They included us the entire way.”
That said, Sparks also sees the loss of a model community college program that is needed now more than ever.
The assistant program used interactive television to reach under-served areas, such as Sunnyside and Omak — places master’s degree-level pathologists don’t tend to go — and often enrolled adult learners without a lot of college-level experience.
Demand for assistants is expected to continue to grow, particularly among school districts, so losing “the major source” of training is a loss to the field, said Sindy Sands, president of the Washington Speech and Hearing Association.
“We are concerned about the closure of the Shoreline program and feel disappointment and regret that it is happening,” Sands said.
Prospective students are now being referred to Chemeketa College in Salem, Ore.
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