BY KAREN BOLIPATA
Starting in January, Old Dominion University's distance-learning students at Germanna Community College's Locust Grove campus will have to take classes elsewhere.
The university is consolidating the classes with its site at Germanna's Fredericksburg campus, forcing 29 students at the Locust Grove site to make the trek to the city, take classes online or transfer to another school.
Nancy Cooley, ODU's vice provost for distance learning, said the university is looking at efficiencies and found the students could be served in other ways.
Distance learning uses televised correspondence and online components for its courses, and the program is expanding its options through video streaming on the Internet.
The university is also closing its Warsaw campus site at Rappahannock Community College and its Annandale campus site at Northern Virginia Community College at the end of the semester, impacting a total of 150 students at all three sites.
Gov. Tim Kaine's 5 percent budget cuts expedited the decision, Cooley said. The changes will save $182,000, or 4.3 percent, of the distance-learning program's $4.3 million annual budget.
Convenience was also a factor. Distance-learning classes are designed to be easily accessible to working students and those in rural areas, according to ODU's Web site.
"What we're looking at now is what students are wanting and what some of the needs of the commonwealth are," Cooley said, identifying child-care and transportation issues as two of students' concerns. "They will have more options to take courses more conveniently."
adding to the drive
The distance-learning program teaches a mix of Germanna students and those working toward ODU degrees. ODU staff directors began meeting individually with students early in the fall to discuss their options, Cooley said.
But some students at the Locust Grove campus said the commute to the Fredericksburg site will be impractical. Most live in Culpeper, Orange and Madison counties.
The Locust Grove campus is 18 miles from Germanna's Fredericksburg site. But with traffic, students say, the drive takes as long as 45 minutes.
Kristen Brown, 25, a health sciences and management student, said she's already driving that long from her Madison County home to Locust Grove. It would take her an hour and a half to drive to the Fredericksburg campus, she said.
ODU staff hasn't been helpful, she added.
"It's just been a really tough process trying to figure it all out," said Brown, who also works full-time. "I don't have many options."
She's considering taking classes at ODU's distance-learning site at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville. Since some classes aren't offered online, she's trying to make arrangements to have them sent by DVD.
falling through the net
The Internet option is not available to many students who live in rural areas, said nursing student Kathleen Harkness.
"It cuts off this section of students, gives them little options if any," the 42-year-old Harkness said. "They felt like video streaming is an option for us, assuming we have the technology to access it."
Brown said it would cost her $100 a month to use the Internet, and even then the connection is spotty, at best.
Electrical-engineering student Stan Pick, 58, cites gas prices and the commute from Culpeper, where he works, to Fredericksburg as problems with the consolidation.
"As a taxpayer, I should get some service from this state," he said. "It's definitely going to create a lot of inconvenience."
He plans to take some classes through video streaming.
So far, 12 students have chosen to move to ODU's distance-learning site in Fredericksburg and eight will go to Lord Fairfax Community College, ODU's Cooley said.
With technology improving every day, "We think the timing is perfect for us to make these current programs available in new delivery formats," she said.
Currently, the staff is looking at other options to serve rural communities with limited Internet access.
Harkness said she will probably take classes in Fredericksburg, a 45-minute drive from her home at Lake of the Woods.
"I chose this program because of this offering," she said. "It's a great system. To have it withdrawn, you grieve it because you know what you're missing."
Karen Bolipata: 540/374-5418