We have lived here twenty years and never knew that Salida wasn’t a part of the CMC district and that people here, young and old, have been paying a premium for their CMC courses.
The 5A ballot measure is long overdue. If we pass it, we would no longer pay $170 per credit hour, but instead $80 per credit hour to attend CMC. This is a real bargain compared to state school or university courses which are $390 and $418 per credit hour. And courses would be more customized to the needs of Salida. Even students at Salida High School could take CMC courses which will reduce their time to graduation and their expenses once they are enrolled in college.
We are very excited that Salida[‘s] young adults will be offered the opportunity to attend college right here and for an affordable price. If we approve Ballot Measure 5A, CMC will expand its academic course offerings and degrees (e.g., nursing, education ) and also forge college/business partnerships to create technical and applied training courses to prepare students to stay in our area and start careers in our local businesses. Check out the CMC website and see what courses they have created to specifically benefit the Western Colorado rural cities that are part of the CMC district.
It’s important to pass 5A because community colleges in Colorado do not receive funding from our state budget, but they rely heavily on local property taxes, just like our K-12 schools. We would welcome seeing an allocation to CMC on our next property tax bill (an average residential increase of $100 per year) in order to be part of the CMC district and be a direct beneficiary of their increased course offerings (never too old to learn!), to see young people be able to stay in Salida and attend college, and to see these young adults strengthen our local economy by having the skills to work in business right here. As owners of the Mixing Bowl store, we are excited at the prospect of enlarging the employment pool of locals with retail, media and business skills.
So let’s become a member of the CMC district and have generations of young and old reap the benefits.
Please vote YES on Measure 5A on November 5th.
Bob and Katy Grether
Owners of the Mixing Bowl Store
Salida Residents
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