The Achievements: This thoughtful combination of state-funded and self-support capabilities has significantly expanded Chico’s ability to respond to the educational needs of the region, even as it faces enrollment pressures and budget constraints. Using the special skills of its self-support staff, Chico created an extensive library of more than 100 online resources designed to foster state-support student success and to engage distance-education students in the intellectual discussions and presentations that enrich the formal higher education experience.

Chico is able to respond to more specialized educational needs of particular audiences, even when resources are scarce, by combining self-support capabilities and state funding for the learners in question. Further, Chico collaborates on programs that foster rural school development and teacher preparation for Common Core State Standards.

Conferences that provide continuing professional education to a variety of professionals are integral to service for the region. Chico’s conferences and meeting facilities for these regional, statewide, and national programs are funded and managed by Chico’s self-support unit. The unit also provides conference planning services for its own campus as well as for other regional organizations.

In summary, Chico’s strategy to engage both its state-funded and self-support capabilities in thoughtful combinations has allowed the campus to maintain a strong educational role in this large region and to reach its widespread population, even in times of challenging state budgets. Using a wide variety of technologies and face-to-face strategies, the campus responds to the region’s educational needs with off-campus opportunities for academic degrees, conferences, collaborative programs, and workforce development.

The Model Extended: The strategies and tactics used by Chico to leverage both state-funded and self-support resources can be used with creative variation by any campus that serves or wishes to serve remote communities in its region. They could also provide a model for a cross-campus collaborative approach to serving any small, remote population.