With this year’s student enrollment as high as it has ever been, Sampson Community College officials are feeling the walls closing in on them — and are seeking sanctuary from a neighbor in their goal to expand.

This week, SCC president Dr. Bill Aiken discussed with the Sampson County Board of Commissioners a potential land acquisition from, and possible expansion to, Clinton Pentecostal Holiness Church, just west of the campus on Sunset Avenue.

“The church has determined they want to relocate and approached the college and asked if we would be interested in using the church facility,” Aiken explained to the county board Tuesday. “I said yes, we would be, but we don’t have the money.”

Aiken said he had garnered estimates for site work, including reviewing the land and structure for any code issues, as well as additional assessments and appraisal of the property. All totaled, the engineering work would cost $12,400, Aiken said.

“With Early College alone, there’s about 250 students,” the SCC president said. “We are running out of space. We didn’t anticipate this. Our enrollment is right at 1,700 this fall. That’s our highest enrollment since the college was established. So we’re needing the room badly.”

The college is bound by Airport Road on one side and N.C. 24 on another. With other adjacent property owners not willing to sell land, Aiken said, options are limited.

“There’s virtually no other place we can go,” he said. “That’s basically our only direction.”

Aiken mentioned that commissioners previously toured the church.

Commissioner Billy Lockamy said he was impressed with the size of the sanctuary, which Aiken said could seat around 350 people, far more than the school’s current 200-capacity auditorium. Board chairman Jarvis McLamb said he was not sure if the space could be utilized for much else than the occasional “pinning ceremony.”

“It’s not as ideal as other parts of the building, but could serve as a gymnasium or in a child care capacity,” Aiken answered. “We could use that as an assembly hall. I think with a few modifications, we could use the majority of that facility.”

County manager Rick Moorefield recommended that any financing be investigated further.

“The real underlying issue is budgeting,” Moorefield said. “I think that’s a prospect, but we’re trying to keep as much money as we can. I would suggest we come to grips with that financing aspect. It’s a reasonable request, but I’d hate to start these processes and falter because of the funding aspect. You might save some money by taking the hard step first.

“We should ask if it makes good fiscal sense,” added Commissioner Jefferson Strickland. “Does it make good sense? If it does, we should go forward. Now, how we get to that point, I don’t know.””

Moorefield mentioned a $5 million “loan” from USDA.

USDA Rural Development has previously approved $5 million for the college’s Child Development Center and construction of the new Charles E. Perry Elementary School. That is money termed “interim financing,” where the county will borrow funds and USDA will pay it off once the projects are completed. No money can be touched until then.

However, the Board of Commissioners voted unanimously last October to delay both projects for another year. County officials said both remained a priority for the county, with Perry at the top of the list.

Commissioner Malachi Faison drove that point home again this week.

“Charles E. Perry is priority number one,” Faison remarked.

Moorefield said there is more money available through USDA than there was a few years ago and the $5 million was a ballpark figure that might be able to be adjusted.

“Let me go ahead and work on that for now — the financing issue — and see if we can get a better deal,” the county manager said. “There is no place for growth (at SCC). This is a long-term investment for the community and the school. Let’s meet that very difficult hurdle as far as financing.”

On his end, Aiken said “recovery funds” were also an option being pursued by the college. “We’ll continue to try and find other money as well,” he said.

Leading up to the fall of 2008, the county had already allocated $300,000 for the collective projects. The community college spent $41,000 on planning and surveying for a potential site, while county school officials were advanced $100,000 for preliminary design work and land acquisition costs for the new Charles E. Perrry site. However, even with the money expended, the projects were placed on hold amid a struggling economy — with little hopes of revisiting it before a year’s time.

A year has almost passed.

Ed Causey, area director the USDA Rural Development, met with Moorefield last week, saying that the agency needs to be updated as to the status of the two projects. On Tuesday, Moorefield shared his plan to schedule a joint meeting with the local Boards of Education and SCC trustees in mid-October to discuss planning and budgeting issues.

“I think it would be best to sit at the same table and talk about all of this,” Moorefield said. “We’re not just dealing with the community college, but we’re dealing with three school systems.”

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.