Rural Community Colleges: A Pennsylvania Case Study.

This report describes the development, functions, and operations of the Delaware Valley Community College Service Center in Pike County, Pennsylvania, which is designed to provide diversified and comprehensive two-year postsecondary education to residents of a large, rural area without a postsecondary institution. The Center is sponsored by the Delaware Valley School District and operated through a contract with Northampton County Area Community College (NCACC), the nearest community college. The policies, procedures, programs and courses of NCACC apply to the Center and its director is responsible to the NCACC president, but the Center retains local control and initiative through its own Operating Board. Funding is provided by the school district, student tuition and state reimbursement. The Center has no facilities of its own but provides a wide range of associate degree and certificate programs in liberal arts and occupational areas and non-credit adult education courses utilizing leased and borrowed facilities and part-time faculty. The Center's Cooperative Commuting College Division makes available specialized high-cost career programs through contractual arrangements with neighboring colleges in New York State. The Center is not offered as a model, but components may serve as a guide to be adapted by other rural areas. (JDS)