Community Colleges Get Some Respect

Obama's main man Rahm Emanuel hinted at a big announcement that's coming from the administration soon to get 5 million extra students through community college in the next 10 years. Mainly the new funding will go toward vocational programs, likely through the reauth of the Workforce Reinvestment Act.

Obama's administration has been unusually respectful of the role of community colleges. I had the pleasure of interviewing Martha Kanter last month at Foothill-De Anza Community College in Los Altos, CA where she is the chancellor. She is the Undersecretary of Education-nominee --the first person with a community college background to be tapped for such a high position in the Department of Education.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: community colleges are the big, important, unsung heroes of the higher ed system in the US. They educate half of high school graduates, 11.5 million students in all.
Their enrollment is going up as the economy and their funding is going down. CCSF in San Francisco is having to cancel 800 classes for the fall unless they can find private donors to sponsor them.

Others have expressed concerns that expanding the role of community colleges, particularly with an emphasis on vocational training, will lead to a further stratification of our higher education system by class. Ideally, you don't want poor kids--solely due to income, not aptitude or interest--tracked into institutions with fewer resources overall, weaker liberal arts programs, and no original research. Conversely, middle class and rich kids who attend the four-year privates and publics may be overpaying for useless perks and filler and missing out on economically sound, reality-based vocational skills. ( I went to Yale: one journalism course, zero in personal finance. More would have been useful.)

I think the answer is to break down barriers among institutions to allow disaggregation of the various benefits of higher education, sharing of best practices and access to the best knowledge and research available, for everyone.

Follow Anya Kamenetz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Anya1anya

Comments

[Manx]

I'm all for community colleges but from what I've witnessed, a disproportionate amount of money is being spent on Olympic-size swimming pools, sports facilities, coaches and football, basketball teams...

[Gardencc]

Anya, Great post. However, the old stratification just isn't true anymore, as the other poster point out. One study of community college grads showed that their salaries trippled in the first three years after leaving cc. Doubt that would be true for university grads. A community college degree can lead to high skill-high pay jobs. Just ask the over 152,000 recent UC/CSU grads in California who last fall enrolled in a community college to, "learn skills that would make them employable." That is more than the number who go each year from high school to community college. That's just bass-ackwards. Community colleges have been underfunded for years and now when our society really needs them, they are not able to offer needed classes and programs.

Anya, love your book and recommend it in mine (What Color Is Your Parachute for Teens).

[davism97]

You can get an excellent education at a community college. I earned my A.S. at a community college before transfering to a 4 year university. The only negative is that the professors generally aren't involved in research, which limits your opportunities (but if you transfer to a university this won't be a problem).

I highly recommend starting at a community college. Great and challenging classes, direct access to the professors; It won't hold you back at all once you transfer to a 4 year university, and you'll have a lot less debt.

[jumperpin]

The last-standing popular justification for 4 year/degree stints has been greater lifetime earnings.

So why isn't same considered "vocational training"?

Just wondering?

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

The conventional 'lifestyle" college model is too expensive and time consuming to serve as a basis for 'lifetime' learning. In fact as the price of that model continues to bloat, community colleges will become the predominant secondary education experience while the 'lifestyle' model will decline to what it has historically been, a boutique experience for the rich.

[historymatters]

"community colleges are the big, important, unsung heroes of the higher ed system in the US. .." Amen to that!!!!

"I think the answer is to break down barriers among institutions to allow disaggregation of the various benefits of higher education, sharing of best practices and access to the best knowledge and research available, for everyone." Agreed. Please keep in mind that most accredited community colleges have reciprocity agreements with colleges and universities in their states. This means you can take a lot of freshman and sophomore level general education classes at the community college and transfer the full credits to a college or university, thus paying a lot less for education that is of equal value to that of the college/university. You can also take time to get some vocational skills training at a very affordable cost! Then, if you choose you can go to college with your wide range of skills, major in business, and become a successful entrepreneur (just one option among many!).

[krechsd]

Thanks for pointing out the invaluable role community colleges play. They bridge the gap between high school and 4 year schools as well as provide great vocational programs. I was able to attend Monterey Peninsula Community College for two years and then transfer to and graduate from Stanford. Being motivated, but poor, there is no way I could have accomplished this without the community college.

[classicalgeek]

I attended a community college twice: once when first studying for a degree, and the second time for changing majors for a master's degree program. In all, I received an excellent education, and in my second career, classical music, my two years of community college education surpassed all my classmates' bachelor degrees in music, as I was the only person in years to be admitted to the graduate program without deficiencies to make up, and graduated from the Master's degree program with a 3.97 GPA. I could never have afforded to change careers or probably even to get my BA without community colleges.