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Name of your college: Lake Superior State University How many years has your center been open: 4 Is there a movement to close it? If yes, why? Not to close it, but to cut back on funding. We are currently funded by a federal Title III grant that ends Oct. 1999. Our university is not really dedicated to continue our services as they are because they are not planning to fund those services/positions currently funded by Title III, or not in their entirety. Approximately how many students do you serve, in terms of any units of measure you use? We serve 1700 students/year, approximately 1/2 our entire student population. Do you include tutoring services? Yes What differences do you see occurring in terms of usage over the past 3-5 years? If funding is cut, we will not be able to provide as much tutoring or SI for students; therefore, our numbers will decrease. What are the other questions I should be asking? Look at retention costs. If those students who use your services are retained at a higher rate than the overall retention rate, you could justify the cost of your program with $$ the university saves by retaining those students. (Of course, we all know that we cannot prove retention, but administrators like this type of information.) What are other trends of which I should be aware? Attitude toward "developmental" education. Many administrators automatically associate learning centers and tutoring with developmental education. Because dev ed is so frequently on the "chopping block" and/or has "negative" connotations with administrators. If your learning center is not solely for students in "preparatory," "basic skills" courses, make sure the higher ups are aware of exactly the population you serve. We look at ACT and HSGPA scores of those who use our LC, also current and overall college GPA and year in school. Thank you so very much. Paulette Church Waldorf College Forest City, IA 50436