Labette Community College

Labette Community College (LCC)

Labette Community College, often called Labette County Community College (although this is incorrect), is a two year accredited school located in Labette County within Southeast Kansas. The institute is situated within Labette County’s most populous city Parsons, Kansas, and was first established in the Fall of 1923 as Parsons Junior College. The beloved mascot of the school is Chris the Cardinal. The official school colors are red and white

The College was initially financed and operated as a part of the public school system of Parsons and was a two year extension program of the Senior High School. Until 1935, the Parsons Junior College was operated as a two year unit, and was a jumping off point for students desiring to continue their education at a later four year university. In 1935 however, the schools of Parsons became organized into a 6-4-4 basis. Under this new system, the Junior College was a new four year system, and instructed grades eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen inclusively.¹

Like most Community Colleges and Junior Colleges, Parsons Junior College was first established to answer the ever increasing demands for better public school systems. With the arrival of the MKT Railroad in Parsons, the city began to grow greatly, requiring the city to adapt and create new institutions to help meet the needs for better education.⁵ Additionally, like most towns that contain one, the Community College is one of the main focal points for the towns presence. Parsons Junior College was no different, as it provided a two year Associates program for higher education until 1935.

In 1967 Parsons Junior College became known as the Labette Community Junior College, following the new trends of the time period, separating Community Colleges as local, publicly funded school system, and Junior Colleges as private degree institutions. The college remained known by this name until 1980 when the school finally adopted the name of Labette Community College, which remains the name of the college to this day.⁷

Tuition and Fees

Originally, Labette Community College was established as a simple extension of the local Senior High School, therefore it was under the management of the cities superintendent of schools. This allowed for the institution to give free tuition to any student that was entering from a Parsons school. Of course incidental fees, books, and other fees (such as athletics, activities, and laboratory fees) still applied. Gradually as the school evolved from an extension of public schools to an actual independent, yet still publicly funded, institution, the cost of tuition and other fees began to rise. However to this day, local students (those living within Labette County) receive discounts, scholarships, and in many occasions, free tuition. More information about current tuition and fees, please visit the external link listed at the bottom of the page.^1,2,3,4

http://www.labette.edu/stusvcs/tuition.htm

Extra Curricular Activities

Since its founding, Labette Community College has had a number of both academic and athletic extra curricular activities available for students. Some of the programs available currently are: Men's and Women's basketball, volleyball, baseball. softball, and wrestling. Additionally, the school offers academic activities such as debate and forensics teams, not to mention the multitude of other school clubs ranging from spirit squad to math. In the past LCC has also hosted such extra curricular activities as football, but certain complications have caused those programs to be dismantled.^{External Link 1}

Refrences

Primary Sources:
¹Parsons Junior College Handbook, 1938-1939
²Parsons Junior College Handbook, 1966-1967
³Labette Community Junior College Handbook, 1967-1968
⁴Labette Community College Handbook, 1980-981
Secondary Sources:
⁵The Community College Movement, Ralph R. Fields, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc. 1962
⁶The Community Junior College 3rd Edition, James W. Thornton Jr. John Wiley & Sons Inc. 1972
⁷The American Community College 4th Edition Arthur M. Lohan and Florence B. Brawer John Wiley & Sons Inc. 2003

External Links

Labette Community College Website [1]