Board votes to raise tuition in fall DEZIRAE BURNETT Assistant Editor
The KC Board of Trustees voted 7-2 Monday night to increase tuition and fees for the 2014-2015 academic year. Board members Scooter Griffin and Brian Nutt voted against the increase. According to KC President Dr. Bill Holda,
the cost per semester credit hour will increase by $1 for in-district students. The cost of each semester credit hour for out-of-district students will increase by $3. For students who attend KC from out of state, this cost will increase by $5. “We are the sixth-lowest [college] in the state for in-district, for full-time students,” Holda said.
This academic year, in-district students paid $57 per credit hour. With the passing of this increase in tuition, in-district students taking 12 hours will see an increase of $12 dollars per semester for the next year. The tuition increase is projected to generate $300,000 of additional annual income for the college. Additionally, the cost of on-campus housing
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will increase by $50 a semester, due to an increase in prices with the college’s cable television provider, according to Holda. The board unanimously approved reviving the associate of applied science in criminal justice degree, which has not been offered at KC since 2005 because of an unsuccessful See BOARD on Page 3
Friday, February 21, 2014 Vol. 77 No. 15 Serving Kilgore College since 1936
FAMILY ADOPTION STORY
Sara Holmes / THE FLARE
Shaina Smith, White Oak sophomore, and Amanda Sustaire
A special bond
“
DEZIRAE BURNETT • Assistant Editor
We went to the hospital every 3 hours to feed him to build a bond. After the third day he already knew our voices. The feeling was amazing.” — Shaina Smith White Oak sophomore
Tory Van Blarcum / THE FLARE
A recently tagged calf looks for its mother at the KC demonstration farm.
S
KC student, partner adopt infant ome say you become a parent the day your child is born, but for Shaina Smith and Amanda Sustaire it was not giving birth to their son that made them parents. They entered the world of parenthood by way of adoption.
The couple met in August 2011 while working together, and began dating on Oct. 5 of that year. Sustaire already had three children of her own from a previous marriage, but it was not long before she and Smith began tossing around the idea of expanding their little family. “We had talked about adoption for a while but wanted to wait until we were both done with college,” Smith said. Needless to say, since Smith is currently a
student of KC, they did not wait quite that long. A family friend, a girl who was 15 at the time, approached Smith and her partner about adopting her son on the day he was delivered. As a pregnant teenager, she knew she could not provide her baby with the life he deserved. She asked Sustaire and Smith if they would consider meeting the baby
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Ag students work with nearly 70 calves while about a Students receive hands-on experience at the demonstration farm, learning how to deworm, herding groups of cattle and planting forage. Page 6
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