The Changing Landscape of Community Colleges

The New Face of Community College

August 6th, 2012


Community college has long had a reputation for being a substandard place to get an education, often being characterized as the last refuge for those who couldn’t make the cut for more prestigious institutions of higher learning. Despite the efforts of these colleges to fight stereotypes, they haven’t gotten much respect, with many four-year students deriding or outright mocking the education these colleges offer. Even television shows like Community, set at the fictional Greendale Community College, poke fun at the supposed ineptitude of community colleges, their professors, and their students. While these stereotypes might provoke a good laugh, the reality is that the community colleges of today no longer (if they ever did) conform to these outdated ideas. In fact, community colleges are drawing in record numbers of students and many boast high-tech facilities and high-quality professors. Why the change? A number of key factors play a role.

Why It’s Exploding

In recent years, the popularity of community college has grown exponentially, with somewhere between one-third and one-half of American undergraduate students currently attending a community college. A big part of this growth has to do with economic issues, both in the relative dearth of jobs available to those at nearly all levels of experience and education, as well as the skyrocketing costs of college tuition at traditional institutions. Community college offers substantial savings on both accounts. In most cases, community colleges charge lower tuition and make it easy for students to work and attend school at the same time by offering night or online courses for students. Additionally, community colleges have capitalized on many underserved areas of the job market, tailoring two-year degree programs to fit the needs of in-demand industries, which often makes it much easier for graduates to find a job once their training is complete.
The quality of community colleges themselves has also played a role, however. Where community colleges might have once offered fewer options, substandard facilities, and bottom-tier faculty, that simply isn’t the case at many community colleges today. With a greater number of students has come an influx of money, which has helped many schools make vast improvements to the quality of education they can offer students. Many courses are on par with those taught at more prestigious schools and the credits earned in these, often much cheaper, courses can be transferred over if students choose to do so.
Even the president has spoken out in support of community colleges in recent years, citing a need for greater funding and support for these essential training and education facilities, which may prove to be a valuable resource in America’s economic recovery. President Obama is putting his money where his mouth is, too, earmarking $12 billion in federal funding to help improve community colleges over the next decade and to help them graduate more than 5 million additional college students. It’s a lofty goal, but some major changes in community colleges may just make it possible.

What New and Improved Community Colleges Offer

While we’ve discussed some of the changes that are bringing community colleges out of the dark, there are many more reasons that students are increasingly seeing them as an attractive choice, and for some, a first choice.

• Partnerships with local businesses. In an attempt to prepare students for real-world, and sometimes quite specialized positions, many community colleges have set up partnerships with local businesses. Students can engage with professionals in internships at these businesses as part of their training or take courses that provide hands-on training under the guidance of business partners. Even better, many programs are set up to funnel students directly into positions within these businesses after graduation, taking some of the pressure off to find work. These programs have been largely driven by the more than $1 billion in funding that the U.S. government has pumped into workplace training programs beginning in 2009, allowing many schools to expand or improve offerings in ways that have been immensely beneficial to students.
• Training for high-demand but specialized jobs. It may be hard to find a job these days, but that isn’t because there aren’t jobs out there. Many of the available positions, however, require specialized training and education that today’s workers just don’t have. Community colleges are working hard to fill that gap by bringing their educational programs where the jobs are, helping many businesses stretched thin on employees breathe a sigh of relief. Partnerships with local businesses, which we mentioned above, have been a major part of this drive to train a new generation of workers.
• Charging lower tuition. One of the biggest draws for community college students is the cost. On average, students can take the same courses at a community college for a third to half of the cost of those same courses at a traditional college. In some cases, students can save tens of thousands of dollars simply by completing an associate degree at a community college before moving on to a four-year school. Though tuition costs have risen in recent years even at community colleges, these schools still by and large offer an incredibly good deal for students, especially those who want to take basic courses before entering a four-year school.
• Help for the middle class. The middle class has taken a hard hit over the past decade, with incomes and job opportunities dwindling at a disturbingly rapid pace, as the cost of everything from housing to education rises. Soon, a college education at a four-year school may be out of reach for many middle class families. Community college, and the lower tuition it offers, offers a way to help families cope with the financial strain of college expenses, while training students in new skills that will allow them to advance in their careers, find work in new fields, or even just find a job at all.
• Many of the same amenities as four-year colleges. These days, students at community colleges aren’t missing out on many of the things traditional colleges offer. In fact, they may even be able to enjoy smaller class sizes and more individual attention, depending on the school. Community colleges all over the nation now boast state-of-the-art facilities, well-regarded faculty, and a handful even have four-year and graduate level programs. Some schools have created specialty programs that cater to the needs of students who want to pursue careers in the arts or literature, even setting up partnerships with schools abroad. At some well-funded community colleges, the only difference between the education they offer and a traditional college is the brand name, and nationwide community colleges are offering students more opportunities and amenities than ever before.
• A cheaper path to a four-year college. Community college is a means to an end for some students, but the ambitious are using these schools in increasing numbers as a stepping stone to a more prestigious institution, with a whopping four out of five community college students hoping to transfer to a four-year school for their degree. By taking introductory level courses at a community college, students can save thousands of dollars on the cost of their college education, which can be a big deal for those who are struggling to figure out how to pay for school. Many students are even transferring from community colleges to top-tier and Ivy League schools, demonstrating that these schools must be doing something right in attracting and educating bright, highly driven students. Oddly enough there is also a growing trend in the opposite direction, as a study completed just this year discovered that 17% of students who start at a four-year college actually end up transferring to a two-year community college within five years, largely due to financial concerns.
• An increasingly diverse student body. Students at community colleges today come from a much wider range of backgrounds than they have in years past. The average age of students has decreased, and students who never would have previously enrolled at the schools are now signing on to save money, gain experience, or to get ahead in jobs that now require college degrees.

Not There Yet

While thus far we’ve painted a pretty rosy picture of community colleges, the reality is that they’re still plagued by some pretty major problems. Student retention is low at many schools (only 35 to 40% of students graduate within six years), nationally only a fifth of students at community colleges graduate on time, and because of open admission policies, students often aren’t prepared for college-level courses. In fact, increased interest in community colleges has come with its own set of problems, resulting in many schools becoming overwhelmed and overburdened by the sheer numbers of students scrambling to sign up for courses. There is still a long way to go in making community colleges all that they could be, a challenge that, despite the infusion of government funding, could take decades to complete.
Yet despite these lingering issues, many American students are realizing that community colleges have much more to offer today than in the past, opening up doors, helping cut college costs, and even providing access to much-needed training programs. This new face of community college could mean that all of us will have to set aside the stereotypes we hold about these institutions and realize the opportunities they have to offer students from all backgrounds, and in turn, American society.

http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog/2012/the-new-face-of-community-college/

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