As Charles Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The same can be said of the public perception of community colleges, which swing from the darling of policymakers to the spurned stepchild of higher education. Historically, funding for these institutions has lagged behind other institutions of higher education. This is despite the fact that, of students who completed a four-year college degree in 2015–2016, almost half had enrolled in a community college in the past 10 years, taking courses as a dual-enrolled high school student, a four-year-college student during summer break, or a transfer student. Community colleges typically see upticks in enrollment during recessions and drops in enrollment during times of recovery, which makes leadership’s job all the more challenging.
Community Colleges Need to Evolve as Students’ Needs Do
The public perception of community colleges swings from the darling of policymakers to the spurned stepchild of higher education. Historically, funding for these institutions has lagged behind other institutions of higher education. Leaders of community colleges must simultaneously deal with growth and reduction, abundance and scarcity, continuity and change, access and completion. Still, the future of community colleges is full of potential. There’s an opportunity to address historic achievement gaps among whites and Asians relative to Hispanics and blacks by putting equity at the center of programming and decision making on campus. The ability to build partnerships and collaborations that create efficiencies, while also addressing shared needs, will be crucial. Without this type of reinvention, community colleges run the risk of becoming obsolete.