Invest: spoke with Thomas LoBasso, president of Daytona State College, to discuss how the school attains student achievement through engagement and affordability. “We haven’t had to raise tuition for 12 years, and with the concern around education costs today, we are proud to remain an affordable opportunity for students,” he said.
What have been the key highlights for Daytona State College over the past year?
We continue to offer new programs, facilities, and extracurricular activities to meet current industry demands and student interest. We’re opening up a new building in Deltona, with an expanded nursing program and new program in diagnostic sonography. Two years ago, we opened up our new residence hall, which houses 256 students on campus. It has been a tremendous success, so we plan to open a second in the near future. In fall 2023, we introduced a bachelor’s degree in cardiopulmonary science and it has opened up with robust enrollment. The college has a number of advisory committees in all of our academic programs. They serve as advisers to leadership so that our curriculum remains relevant. If an industry develops a new niche, we are active in tweaking our curriculum accordingly.
How is Daytona State College embracing diversity and inclusion?
By our mission, we are open access and we welcome all students to take advantage of all the services we have. Our student clubs and organizations actively celebrate multicultural and international events on our campuses. We also have representation from many countries, much of which is borne from our athletics programs. It is in our DNA to be inclusive of all students and to be responsive to the community in which we serve. Our tagline is “You Belong Here”, and I think that says it all.
How is technology evolving at Daytona State College?
Coming out of the pandemic, we learned a lot of good things with technology. We started using hybrid-flexible (hyflex) learning, which allowed students to learn from class or at home. While students are now back in the classroom, we still use this platform to record courses.
One of the most significant topics today is artificial intelligence. We just created an AI counsel to work with faculty to formalize our work in the field and how we can further implement it. Industries are using it and we want to make sure our students are ready for it. We also use it on the operational side to enhance our business processes. For example, it will give advisers more time to meet with students. Like any new technology, it allows us to shift routine, transactional types of work to technology. It will enable us to conduct more engaging work with students, because we are ultimately in the people business.
What is your assessment of the higher education landscape in Florida today?
We’ve had great support from the legislature and governor to tackle educational challenges and have the resources to do so. We haven’t had to raise tuition for 12 years, and with the concern around education costs today, we are proud to remain an affordable opportunity for students. Students do have pressures outside of education that can still impact them, from rent to owning a car, and that impacts us indirectly. That is why we opened up housing for students and the demand has been exceptional because it is so affordable.
What are the college’s plans for the second residence hall?
As a state college, we can’t own and operate a residence hall, so we created the Daytona State College Housing Corporation, a 501(c)3 direct support organization to do so. That required raising money and taking out a loan. We have drawings ready to go for a second residence hall and are in the process of fundraising. It costs more to build today and interest rates are higher, so we are ready to go as soon as we have the equity. I’m hopeful interest rates will improve and we can get this off the ground sometime over the next year.
What are your priorities for Daytona State College over the next five years?
Academic excellence is always first and foremost in our strategic plan, and we continuously seek to improve our educational offerings. I’m proud that for the past 12 years, we have been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a top online four-year college. We’ve prioritized our healthcare programs to meet demand, tripling our nursing program to meet community needs. Our nursing program is also among the top programs in the country. Our last class that took the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) passed at a 99.1% rate when the state average is around 82%. We want to produce top talent for emerging industry and community needs and look forward to continuing to do so.o
