Wyatt: Community support vital to Coker’s future

Meeting the needs of this year’s class of college freshmen presents some unique challenges for colleges and universities and their communities, the president of Coker College said.

That’s true of Coker College and Hartsville, Dr. Robert L. Wyatt, who took over this year as the 16th president of the college, told members of the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce Wednesday.

“Students today and their families are debt ridden, yet the cost of college tuitions keeps going up,” Wyatt said during the chamber’s monthly All Member Luncheon.

Tuition at many institutions is running $50,000 a year or more, he said. At Coker, the figure is closer to $20,000. “And that’s a considerable value,” he said.

“How we respond to this really serious need is important,” Wyatt said.

One of his top priorities, Wyatt said, is Coker College’s growth and how Hartsville can help with that growth.

For small communities and institutions like Hartsville and Coker, the challenge is greater, Wyatt said. He pointed to a survey that found that among today’s college students, only 2 percent nationwide want to attend a college with fewer than 2,000 students.

Most of the members of this year’s freshman class – the class of 2013 – were born in 1991, he said.

“This is a totally different generation of students that we are facing for the first time. That creates challenges for us,” Wyatt said.

“The world today is organized around globalization,” Wyatt said. And that influences how students view their world and their communities.

This generation of students, he said, is far more socially active than pervious ones.

“They’re social animals. They want to be entertained consistently.”

And a lack of social opportunities and activities in the Hartsville area is driving more Coker students to Florence, Columbia and other areas to seek opportunities and activities in those areas, Wyatt said.

“Our growth is dependent on social outlets for these students, and we have to address that,” he said.

Wyatt said Coker College and Hartsville must act together to provide more social opportunities for students in the Hartsville area to help ensure the future growth of both the college and the community.

He said Coker students he talks with consistently cite a desire for some sort of entertainment complex in the area that could include amenities such as a bowling alley, go-cart track, climbing wall or paint ball course.

“College students left to their own will create their own entertainment,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt said Coker faculty and staff are working to develop a strategic plan for growth at the college that will present a vision for what the college will be like in 2020, both physically in terms of the campus and academically.

And the Hartsville community must be a part of the college’s growth as it seeks to meet the needs of its students, he said.

“Higher education cannot exist without the support of the community,” he said.

Wyatt said he hopes to build more public-private partnerships between the college and the city of Hartsville.

Coker started this academic year with the largest freshman class in its history. Total enrollment stands at 1,140 with day school enrollment at 671, its highest ever.

“We’re really blessed in enrollment compared to other schools,” Wyatt said. “This year we’ve filled our residence halls.”

Wyatt also gave an update on recent developments at the college.

To help ensure student safety, all of the residence halls have now been equipped with sprinkler systems. Plans have been implemented to address the novel H1N1 flu virus or swine flu. He noted that one case of the illness was confirmed on the campus. This summer, the college conducted a drill with the Hartsville Police Department to refine the school’s emergency preparedness plan.

The renovation of the former library building on East Home Avenue into a state-of-the art residence hall is complete, Wyatt said.

In other areas, Coker teamed up with the U.S. Veterans Administration to offer $5,000 scholarships to qualifying military veterans with 36 months of service and their dependents. He noted that GI Jobs Magazine recently named Coker a “Military Friendly School,” a designation given to only about 15 percent of all colleges nationwide.

He also noted Coker’s recent rankings by the Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report as one of the best schools in the South, which he said offers external validation that Coker is doing a good job.