Position Paper

Identified Need: The Center for Energy and Advanced Manufacturing

Background:  A major component of the mission of Aiken Technical College is by offering educational opportunities for residents of our service area to prepare for direct career entry and continuing education to technically oriented certificates, diplomas and associate degrees and upgrade job skills for the current workforce. In fulfilling this mission, Aiken Technical College must take into account the projected economic development of our service area, paying particular attention to the needs of business and industry for appropriately skilled and educated employees.  Old, outdated facilities that are inadequate and inefficient in combination with business and industries’ expressed demand for new programs has resulted in the compelling need for a new facility for technology courses at the College. Current course offerings in radiation protection technology, welding, electronics technology and HVAC have filled the available spaces, making laboratory setups difficult and leaving no room for the addition of high-tech equipment and computer classrooms for instructional purposes. Aiken Technical College’s radiation protection technology program is one of the largest programs of its kind in the country. Enrollment in this program has increased due to a combination of the nuclear renaissance we are experiencing with reactor construction at Plant Vogtle in Georgia and V.C. Summer in South Carolina, new missions at the Savannah River Site and retirements at all these sites.

Description of Need:  The College proposes to build and equip a 60,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility to remedy the deficiencies that currently exist in laboratories and classroom space in the old facilities. This new facility will enable the College to meet local business and industry needs by the addition of new programs and enhancement of existing programs. The proposed building will contain  bays (labs) that will house the following programs: 

• Mechatronics
• Radiation Protection Technology
• Nuclear Quality Control
• Welding
• Environmental Control and Renewable Energy

 The facility will also include classrooms, a multi-use training room, a conference room, and faculty offices.

The Center will be built on land already owned by the College and will be part of the campus located on U.S.1. The location of this new facility will allow for expansion as the College’s programs continue to grow, with additional bays, classrooms, and training areas to be added as funding becomes available.

In addition, current facilities are crumbling structures that have reached the end of their useful life. Using calculation methods established by the South Carolina Commission for Higher Education, it is estimated that the replacement cost of current facilities is $6.2 million – seven hundred thousand more than the cost of completing the first phas of a new facility.

The cost to build and equip the Center for Energy and Advanced Manufacturing is $8 million. Due to lack of state funding for building construction, the College’s plan is to build the facility in phases.

The cost of the first phase of construction is $5.5 million.

Projected State Dollars Available……………………$0.0 million

Projected Federal Grants Available…………………$2.0 million

Projected Private Support Needed …………………$2.0 million

Projected College Support (Financing)…………..$1.5 million

Private support is critical as these funds will match federal grant dollars. Without the support of our local community we will be unable to match the federal grant, and this community resource will fail to become a reality. Generous private support in excess of $2 million will reduce the amount the cllege needs to finance.

Phase two of the facility will cost approximately $2.5 million and will be subsidized through a federal low-interest loan. Private support in phase on is crucial to both the matching federal grant and to the eventual transition to phase two.

Predicted Outcomes:

Will provide instruction space and equipment to:

• Expand technical laboratory courses and programs that support local business and industry needs.
• Allow the addition of up to three new, high demand programs in the coming years in support of local business and industry.
• Recruit and graduate students in high demand career fields.