All over the United States, community college enrollments have surged with unemployed and underemployed people seeking new skills. But just as workers have turned to community colleges, states have cut their budgets, forcing the institutions to turn away legions of students and stymieing the efforts to retrain the workforce. Unemployment is highest among the nation’s lesser-educated workers, and for them, community colleges offer a critical pathway to new jobs: Classes are open, relatively cheap and often tailored to picking up job skills. The article was in The Washington Post.
The Community College Transfer initiative, started in 2005, provided about $7 million over four years to eight four-year institutions — Amherst College, Bucknell University, Cornell University, Mount Holyoke College, University of California at Berkeley, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Southern California- in an effort Community college students are able to transfer successfully transfer to some of the nation’s most selective four-year institutions.
From 2007 through 2010, nearly 2,000 community college transfer students enrolled in these eight institutions because of the project. Data shows that the transfer students assisted by this program had comparable grade point averages and graduation rates to those of native students at these eight institutions. Research shows that that high achieving low-income students graduate at higher rates if they go to more selective institutions. Read More in Inside Higher Ed.
Under legislation passed by the House and now headed to the Senate, Community Colleges propose expansion making four-year degrees more accessible and affordable especially to older students.
About 10 community colleges would probably take advantage of the expansion to four-year degrees, said Mike Hansen, president of the Michigan Association of Community Colleges. Community Colleges could offer now four-year degrees in nursing, in culinary arts, and maritime and cement technology, citing to address shortages in these professions and the requirement for four-year degree for these programs now.
But the state’s 15 public universities oppose the measure, saying it will water down academic standards especially for nursing programs. Many community colleges offer two-year nursing programs, but the universities argue that four-year programs would drive up the cost and result in inferior training.
Read more on Freep.com
Community colleges are the largest part of America’s higher education system enrolling more than 8 million students each year.The vice president’s wife, Jill Biden, a longtime educator and community-college instructor, would lead the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges on October 5. The summit will bring together community colleges and students; and business, philanthropy, and federal and state policy leaders where, the White House especially wants to hear how students’ lives have been transformed after attending a community college. President Obama asked Dr. Biden to convene this event to highlight the critical role that community colleges play in developing America’s workforce and reaching America’s educational goals. Read more on The Chronicle
