Fairchild Air Force Base, home to a population exceeding 8,600, offers a hub of college options on the base within its Professional Development Center.

While one school, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is ending its program at Fairchild, four other higher education institutions offer classes. The degree offerings primarily are geared to active-duty military, but they are open as well to civilians who obtain a security base pass, and to retirees with military identification.

The multiple courses available at the 13,000-square-foot center, located at 6 W. Castle, about a mile from the base's main entrance off U.S. 2, can be convenient for residents of the West Plains and outlying areas, school administrators say. However, some also say it's challenging to make civilians aware that they can attend their schools on base.

The center's 20 classrooms are shared by branches of Spokane Falls Community College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and two Missouri-based private schools, Park University and Webster University. Among those, classes range from freshman English to graduate-level classes in human resource development. Most classes are held on weekday evenings, and numerous online class options also are available through those schools.

Sly Chatman, SFCC program coordinator at Fairchild, says roughly 10 percent of the college's 150 students enrolled each quarter at Fairchild are civilians, adding, "We welcome them to come out if they have a class they need."

However, he adds, "We offer primarily academic support for the Air Force associate degree."

The degree includes Air Force technical training as well as general education courses that SFCC supports, including English, math, humanities, electives, and social science classes.

"Besides that, we do offer some life science courses such as biology, anatomy, physiology, astronomy," Chatman says. "Each quarter, we have roughly 150 students enrolled in a wide variety of courses. About 75 percent are taking classes on-site, and about 25 percent do so online."

Southern Illinois University Carbondale, which has offered classes on base since 2000, decided recently it will end its undergraduate program in workforce education and development this summer. That program's 18 students will finish up requirements before its office closes Aug. 17, says Beth Winfrey Freeburg, who heads SIU Carbondale's Department of Workforce Education and Development.

The university is based in Carbondale, Ill., and offers the workforce education and development degree at 14 U.S. Air Force and Navy bases around the U.S., Freeburg says. However, she says Fairchild's program enrollment has dwindled for several years.

"At Fairchild, we feel the market is saturated with our degree," Freeburg says, about the reason for the closure. She adds that many people who have earned the program's degree are employed, mainly at Fairchild, in training and development positions. The economy may be another factor for the enrollment decline, she says.

The school's program coordinator, Jeff Grayson, says Southern Illinois University Carbondale enrollment was at about 75 students at Fairchild when the program started in 2000.

"The program participants met every other weekend for the most part for classes," he says. "It worked well for military because they had some work experience and technical skills."

Other school administrators at Fairchild report mostly stable enrollment for their institutions, with perhaps slight dips during recent years of war-time deployments. Also, a project to reconstruct the base runway last year temporarily displaced some military members, some say, which contributed to a slight drop in enrollment.

Dennis Ottmar, education and training specialist at Fairchild, says the education center was completed in 2001 and offers several multimedia options for learning. A library is located in one wing, and two of the classrooms allow for long-distance education that can be done via a satellite connection. Academic counseling, financial aid guidance, and testing services also are offered there.

Additionally, the many units based at Fairchild regularly reserve the center's rooms for training and education sessions, so it's in use day and night. The 92nd Air Refueling Wing is the host unit at the base, which also is home to the Washington Air National Guard's 141st Air Refueling Wing, the 336th Training Group, and other tenant organizations.

"There's rarely a time we don't have some training or class going on during the week," Ottmar says.

Fairchild's public affairs office says the base has more than 5,100 employees, counting those on active duty, serving in the Air National Guard or other tenant units, and civilian employees, making it the Spokane area's largest employer. Fairchild also hosts the Armed Forces Reserve Center, with about 850 Army Guard and Reserve personnel.

Master Sgt. Jennifer Buzanowski, Fairchild's public affairs assistant superintendent, says that many of the Air Force's senior enlisted personnel want to complete the Community College of the Air Force associate degree so they can advance in rank.

"The Air Force puts a lot of emphasis on continuing education," Buzanowski says.

Additionally, Ottmar says the Air Force's degree is recognized by employers after military personnel enter civilian life and seek work. "It's considered an associate's degree. It includes 64 total hours, and of that, 24 hours comes from training in the Air Force."

Ottmar says all the schools at the center are regionally accredited, and that active-duty military personnel can use tuition benefits covering up to $750 per semester class. He adds that guard and reserve units provide separate tuition assistance programs as well, and that other students are using GI Bill education benefits.

Webster University, based in St. Louis, has about 130 students enrolled through its Fairchild branch in a number of graduate-level programs, says Jason Trosine, Webster's administration manager here. These programs include MBA, business and organizational security management, management and leadership, and human resource development.

"Then there are other online programs we offer as well, and we can be the host for them," Trosine adds. "We'd be the extended campus to get them registered, and help with financial aid."

Park University offers associate and bachelor degree programs at Fairchild in such subjects as criminal justice administration, management, accounting, health care, and marketing, among others. Tammy Roberson, the university's Fairchild campus center director, says coursework can be done at the center and online. Master's degree programs are offered entirely online, she adds.

Park University's early spring term had a total enrollment of about 88 for Fairchild on-site courses and 153 for online classes, Roberson says. She says her enrollment figures count as total classes taken. "Some students take more than one class," she adds.

Roberson says that recent deployments have had some effect, but that many students can take the classes online if they have access to the Internet. While a majority of students are military, Roberson says her program draws some civilians. Recruitment is sometimes challenging, she adds.

"The problem is perception," she says. "When we tell them we're on the military base, red flags go up because they don't think they can come on the base, and that's not the case."

School administrators add that they provide flexibility with online options and transferring of credits to accommodate Air Force personnel being reassigned to different bases and dealing with deployment overseas.

They also can provide access to career advancement training that can help those in the military after they leave active duty.

Jon Miesegaes, assistant director of academic support at the Fairchild campus of Florida-based Embry-Riddle Aero-nautical University, says the school's program here offers aviation-oriented degrees for professionals who are seeking management and leadership positions in the industry. For Fairchild, current enrollment in the program is about 150 undergraduate students and 50 graduate students, Miesegaes says. Only about 45 of those students, however, are actively taking classes this spring.

Embry-Riddle's programs here include degrees in such subjects as aviation maintenance, professional aeronautics, and technical management. Its offerings also support the Community College of the Air Force associate degree, he says.

"I'd guess 60 percent or better of our students are military," Miesegaes says. "All of our programs are available to military and civilians, retirees, veterans, and pretty much anyone."

He says Embry-Riddle is working to raise awareness in the Spokane region that it offers aerospace industry educational options.

"We don't have the vocational aspects at this campus," Miesegaes says. "A good example would be someone who has gone through the airframe program at SCC and they have that airframe and power plant license. They could roll into our program and work toward a bachelor program."

He adds, "The people who take our program want to gain civilian credentials. They have the military workplace aviation experience, but they have to have those credentials to seek the jobs in the outside world."