A new report from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) lays out the vast, converging challenges that the nation’s public two-year colleges face and calls on the association and its member colleges to reimagine long-term planning strategies.

Released on the day that DeRionne P. Pollard becomes AACC president and CEO, “Resilient by Design: The Future of America’s Community Colleges” delves into the details of the challenges — demographic and enrollment shifts, financial and political pressures, workforce needs, growing competition, advancing technology, and students’ needs and expectations — and highlights some approaches to tackle them. For example, at the college level, leadership must expand. It’s too much for one individual to shoulder growing duties such as fundraising, navigating policy and developing data-based strategies. Another example focuses on how AACC can serve its membership through deeper policy engagement at the state and regional level through resources, legislative templates and partnerships.

The 64-page report also observes the need for colleges to engage better with employers to build stronger career paths for students, as well as to develop new models and tools that are strategic and ROI-based.

Such a heavy lift will require a collective effort from the sector, AACC and other stakeholders to make the needed changes. But Pollard — calling the report “a mirror, a map and a call to action” — says the challenges also present new opportunities for colleges.

“Our colleges are being called to navigate seismic demographic shifts, economic realignments, political divides and the accelerated influence of technology,” Pollard says. “In these challenges lies an extraordinary opportunity: to reimagine how community colleges serve students and society, and to lead transformation across the higher education landscape.”

Addressing the challenges

The report highlights some of those opportunities. For example, community colleges’ students are changing and so are their needs. Short-term certificates are growing in popularity, and incumbent workers are expected to comprise a growing portion of two-year colleges’ student population. In addition, colleges have an opportunity to improve burgeoning dual-enrollment programs. This can be done through clearer career pathways for students, developing better bridges from high school to postsecondary education and ensuring dual enrollment is accessible to all students, not just those who are already college-bound, the report says.

The report acknowledges the hard choices colleges will have to make when it comes to creating new programs for workforce demands, dropping programs no longer in demand, developing new forms to deliver education, adjusting academic schedules to serve students better and more. However, new business models can employ innovative approaches. For example, services that a college is considering nixing could remain accessible to students through partnerships with other institutions, community-based organizations, employers and other groups, the report says.

The report concludes with a statement to rally member colleges around the work ahead: “No other institution may be as well positioned as community colleges are to help students and communities develop the resilience needed to manage in this tumultuous environment, and there is little doubt that community colleges can fulfill this role if they, too, are resilient and capable of adapting to uncertainty and change.”

Next steps

In the coming weeks, AACC will provide toolkits and resources to its member colleges to help assess external factors that impact programs and services and guides them toward innovative solutions.

The report was prepared by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems at the request of the AACC board of directors. It is based on a survey, interviews of community college leaders and other stakeholders, and reviews of articles and research.

This article was originally posted in CC Daily.