Despite offering education at a fraction of the price of larger state schools, Flathead Valley Community College realizes its role is to address the quickly changing needs of students.

That’s why, in her presentation to the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday afternoon, FVCC President Jane Karas spoke of improving the college’s educational approach.

Many of the college’s students come in needing remedial math courses. Karas hopes to fast-track these students to catch up to their peers.

“We have students taking four semesters of developmental math,” she said.

By the time these students transfer, they are finally up to a college math level. Foundational math is a concept Karas mentioned that could speed up the math skills of these students. It involves taking quizzes in the Foundational Math Center and receiving personalized tutoring along with computer work at home.

Technology was a big direction for Karas, and she espoused the benefits of having FVCC’s manufacturing programs help create learning tools for other disciplines. The college’s new 3-D printer has created science models to assist other courses.

“We’re using the equipment we have to improve our classes,” Karas said. “We need to adapt our business model to use technology.”

Hybrid courses will be taught at FVCC, utilizing classrooms and online education. This could make things more efficient for the college, which had cut adjunct professor hours in 2013.

Other initiatives in Karas’ speech include an increasing global education awareness. FVCC students are traveling to Venice, London, Peru and elsewhere to understand other cultures. A partnership with Brazilian universities brings in students who enrich local students with their culture and local businesses with their money.

Developments for the college in the near future could include a student center, fitness center, higher-education center (for Montana State and University of Montana courses to be taught this fall) and even a performing arts center if FVCC’s expanded music program continues to grow.

Karas also said the Running Start program in Flathead and Lincoln counties is one of the college’s biggest providers of students. In the last year, 433 high school students took 955 courses worth 1,232 college credits. Glacier High School, for example, sent nearly a third of 2013 graduates to FVCC.

With so much happening on the Kalispell campus, balancing education and student satisfaction remains the major goal at the college. Doing it affordably is doubly important.

Although FVCC costs half as much as Montana State or the University of Montana, 72 percent of Flathead Valley Community College students rely on financial aid to pay for college.

Despite this, the college is responding not only to student needs, but to the businesses of the valley. The whirlwind of activity on campus is testament to the quickly changing nature of higher education.