Response to A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards
A statement of institutional purpose, accountability, and service
Submitted by: Patrick Kenny, Chief Executive Officer
Publish Date: August 31, 2026
Institution: Northwest Career College, Las Vegas, Nevada
Our commitment: NCC will continue to make graduating from college accessible by pairing transparent practices, rigorous career preparation, measurable outcomes, and responsive service to the Las Vegas community.
Introduction
Northwest Career College (NCC) submits this direct response to the Secretary of Education’s August 3, 2026 call for postsecondary institutions to describe their commitments to students and the American people. NCC approaches this request institutionally and neutrally, with a focus on the work: clear standards, honest disclosure, strong teaching, responsible stewardship, and outcomes that prepare graduates to contribute to their families, professions, community, and country.
NCC is a family-owned career college founded in Las Vegas in 1997 by Dr. John Kenny. For nearly three decades, the College has grown in response to the needs of Southern Nevada while remaining grounded in service, mentorship, and innovation in education. As a teaching-focused institution, NCC's central purpose is not political advocacy or a traditional research enterprise. It is to provide accessible, career-centered education that leads to demonstrated competence and meaningful employment.
Published reference: NCC School Ownership and History
1. Transparent and Merit-Based Admissions
How will NCC ensure that admissions criteria are transparent, fully described, and based on merit, achievement, and educational purpose?
NCC maintains an accessible admissions model designed to create opportunity without obscuring expectations. General requirements include evidence of high school graduation or its equivalent, valid government-issued identification, an admissions interview, required enrollment documents, and completion of financial aid arrangements. Certain programs have additional objective requirements based on academic demands, professional licensure, clinical placement, or public safety. All requirements are published in NCC's School Catalog and communicated before enrollment.
Radiography, NCC's most competitive program, uses a published candidate-scoring process composed of objective criteria. Other programs may require a scholastic aptitude assessment, background check, entrance examination, vaccination documentation, or program-specific interview. Prospective students receive campus tours, admissions counseling, program expectation reviews, and financial aid counseling before making an enrollment decision. Where a background check or examination may affect a student's ability to progress, that expectation is disclosed in advance.
NCC does not use legacy preferences, donor influence, political affiliation, or race-based preferences in admissions. Except for selective programs with defined capacity and published criteria, qualified students are enrolled as space is available. When a class reaches capacity, the next qualified student may enroll in the next available start. These practices align admissions decisions with readiness, program requirements, capacity, and NCC's educational purpose.
Published reference: NCC Admissions Requirements
2. Open Dialogue and Professional Campus Conduct
How will NCC protect the exchange of ideas while ensuring that harassment, violence, and disruption do not interfere with learning or campus operations?
NCC supports respectful, open-minded classroom dialogue while maintaining instruction that is fact-based, nonpartisan, and aligned with approved curriculum. Because NCC programs are designed for entry into specific professions, classroom expectations reflect the standards students will encounter in the workplace: professionalism, respect, listening, constructive disagreement, and accountability.
The College draws a clear line between expression and conduct that harms others or obstructs education. NCC policy prohibits physical and verbal abuse, threats, discriminatory or hateful language, intimidation, harassment, coercion, weapons, and behavior that disrupts academic, administrative, or business activities. Conduct concerns are documented, reviewed, and addressed through established disciplinary procedures, with the level of response calibrated to the circumstances and the student's overall conduct record.
Students may raise concerns directly with an involved person, an instructor, an administrator, or a Program Chair. They may also use informal reporting channels, submit a formal complaint, or pursue a grievance for higher-level executive review. NCC publishes these procedures and provides routes for external review by applicable state and accrediting authorities. This structure protects both the student's opportunity to be heard and the continuity of a safe, professional learning environment.
Published reference: NCC Conduct Policy
Published reference: NCC Complaints and Grievances
3. Intellectual Pluralism, Faculty Quality, and Educational Integrity
How will NCC promote intellectual vitality, ensure relevant perspectives are considered, and keep academic work focused on knowledge and service?
NCC promotes intellectual integrity through objective curriculum, qualified faculty, observation, evaluation, and employer input. Course content is reviewed through an established curriculum review process to confirm alignment with program objectives, professional standards, and current workplace practice. Faculty observations help ensure instructors facilitate appropriate discussion without imposing personal political or social viewpoints.
Faculty hiring is governed by Nevada requirements and the standards of NCC's institutional and programmatic accreditors. The College prioritizes occupational experience, relevant academic credentials, certifications or licenses, teaching ability, and the capacity to motivate students and communicate technical knowledge. Faculty members complete a structured two-week onboarding process and receive twice-yearly performance reviews and classroom observations. Observations include review by the Program Chair and by an objective education department professional with substantial classroom experience.
Every program is supported by an employer advisory board that meets at least annually. Advisory-board feedback informs curriculum updates, equipment decisions, professional expectations, emerging technologies, and workforce needs. This input helps prevent insularity and keeps academic programs accountable to the professions they serve.
NCC is primarily a teaching institution and does not operate a traditional sponsored research enterprise. Accordingly, its contribution to knowledge and the public good is expressed through high-quality instruction, applied learning, workforce preparation, and continuous program improvement informed by students, faculty, employers, regulators, accreditors, and the community.
4. Affordability, Transparency, and Return on Education
How will NCC provide affordable, high-return education, contain costs, improve pricing transparency, and prepare students to repay their loans?
Affordability is a central institutional priority. Every student receives individualized financial aid counseling, either in person or virtually, before enrollment and continues to have access to counseling after classes begin. NCC uses clearly published, fixed program tuition so students can understand the total educational commitment without navigating an opaque collection of institutional charges. The College also awards millions of dollars in institutional scholarships to help bridge affordability gaps.
Before enrollment, students receive information regarding program cost, length, career opportunities, typical earnings, employment outcomes, student satisfaction, graduation or retention information, and applicable licensure outcomes. NCC favors live public disclosures over static claims that can become outdated. Its website therefore publishes current program-level retention, credentialing, placement, compensation, and other required outcome data, together with the methodology used to calculate key measures.
NCC's accreditor establishes a 70 percent placement benchmark. NCC's aggregate placement rate has exceeded 80 percent for each of the past five reporting years. If an individual program falls below an applicable expectation, NCC develops a documented performance improvement plan, establishes accountable corrective actions, and presents the plan for Board oversight and approval as appropriate.
The College also evaluates program value through community demand. Recent launches in Radiography, HVAC Technician, and Automotive Technician were direct responses to documented workforce needs in Southern Nevada. NCC will continue expanding into high-wage fields while working to keep student debt as low as reasonably possible and preserving the support services that help students graduate and secure employment.
Published reference: NCC Tuition Information
Published reference: NCC Student Outcomes Data
5. Academic Rigor, Artificial Intelligence, and Teaching Excellence
How will NCC preserve rigor in the age of AI, address grade inflation, and prioritize excellence in teaching and learning?
NCC treats artificial intelligence as both an academic-integrity challenge and an emerging workplace competency. The College's AI Code of Conduct establishes when and how students may use AI responsibly. When an assignment prohibits AI assistance, NCC may use third-party review tools and faculty evaluation to identify potential misuse, followed by the College's established academic-integrity process. At the same time, students are taught to use AI ethically, transparently, and productively where employers and advisory boards identify AI literacy as a relevant professional skill.
Academic rigor is ultimately demonstrated through performance, not detection software alone. NCC uses a competency-tracking system to verify that students complete required skills before graduation. Programs incorporate hands-on competencies, laboratory practice, externships or clinical experiences where applicable, and required certification or licensure milestones. These measures provide direct evidence that graduates can perform the work for which they were trained.
To reduce grading inconsistency and grade inflation, most NCC assessments are evaluated through defined rubrics or pass-fail competency standards. Students receive clarity regarding how performance will be measured, and grades are audited across levels of academic leadership to promote consistency among instructors, sections, and programs. Faculty onboarding, twice-yearly evaluations, and twice-yearly classroom observations reinforce instructional quality and continuous improvement.
6. Foreign Influence and Institutional Safeguards
How will NCC protect academic programs from foreign influence and safeguard institutional integrity?
The foreign-influence risks associated with large research universities have limited application to NCC's institutional model. NCC does not accept foreign gifts or foreign-sponsored research, maintain international institutional partnerships, operate a sponsored research enterprise, or depend on foreign funding. The College does not enroll students through an international student program.
Applicants who completed secondary education outside the United States must obtain a formal credential evaluation through an appropriately recognized third-party agency. NCC applies this process in accordance with applicable federal, state, and accrediting requirements. NCC will continue maintaining conflict-of-interest, data-protection, vendor-review, and institutional oversight practices appropriate to its operations and will not permit outside entities to compromise admissions, curriculum, personnel decisions, or student information.
7. Workforce Service, Community Prosperity, and the National Interest
How will NCC meet urgent workforce needs and contribute materially to American security, prosperity, and societal success?
NCC answers this call through local service with national value. The College prepares professionals for essential healthcare roles and is expanding its skilled-trades portfolio in response to employer and community demand. Advisory boards across NCC's programs give local employers a meaningful voice in curriculum, equipment, technology, and professional expectations. Graduates are prepared not only to perform technical work, but also to bring professionalism, reliability, communication, and a service mindset into the workplace.
The College's responsibility extends beyond its classrooms. Each year, NCC supports students and Las Vegas families through school-supply distributions, Thanksgiving meal assistance, and holiday giving efforts. These longstanding initiatives recognize that many NCC students are also parents and that educational access is strengthened when institutions respond to the realities facing working families.
NCC's vision is to make graduating college accessible to all. That vision is advanced through transparent admissions, clear pricing, institutional scholarships, practical instruction, extensive student support, and accountable career outcomes. Adaptability is one of NCC's core values because the needs of students, employers, and communities change. NCC will remain agile enough to respond while holding firmly to academic quality, professionalism, and responsible stewardship.
As a locally operated institution serving a predominantly domestic student population, NCC directs its educational resources toward preparing American workers for essential occupations that strengthen the nation’s healthcare capacity, infrastructure, and economic resilience.
Commitments Going Forward
NCC commits to the following continuing actions:
- Maintain clear, public admissions requirements, tuition information, complaint procedures, and program-level student outcomes.
- Review every academic program regularly using student achievement, employer input, licensure expectations, workforce demand, and affordability as decision criteria.
- Expand education in high-demand and high-wage fields while protecting instructional quality and limiting unnecessary student debt.
- Preserve fact-based, nonpartisan instruction and a professional environment where respectful dialogue can occur without harassment or disruption.
- Use artificial intelligence responsibly, protecting academic integrity while preparing students for ethical technology use in the workplace.
- Continue serving Southern Nevada through career education, employer partnership, and direct community support.
Public trust is earned through consistent conduct. NCC welcomes accountability for the promises it makes to students and will continue measuring its success by whether students graduate prepared, enter meaningful careers, manage their financial obligations, and contribute positively to their communities.
Conclusion
Northwest Career College is proud to join this national conversation with a practical statement of purpose. As a local, family-owned institution, NCC will continue doing the work that has defined it since 1997: making career education accessible, delivering training aligned with real opportunity, supporting students through graduation, and preparing the next generation of professionals to serve the American people.
Patrick Kenny
Chief Executive Officer
Northwest Career College
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