The new school year is just beginning, but community college presidents are closely watching enrollment numbers. Since hitting a peak in 2010, the total community college enrollment has decreased each fall after the Great Recession, declining by more than 1 million students nationally between 2010 and 2017. However, when looking at those who do enroll […]
Advocacy and Funding Articles
An opportunity to succeed
This spring, Paola Arias-Batista became one of the first Passaic County Community College (PCCC) students to receive the New Jersey Community College Opportunity Grant (CCOG), a pilot program that enabled qualifying students to attend classes tuition free. “I was so happy to receive this,” said Arias-Batista, who struggled to pay for her own education by […]
Advancing technician education through mentoring
For community colleges looking to start or improve technician education programs there’s good news: You don’t have to do it alone. The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) recently announced a national grant competition for the MentorLinks: Advancing Technological Education program, developed with the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Through MentorLinks, colleges get […]
Try and try and try again
During a House hearing last week on college costs, it was the testimony of a community college graduate who summed up the challenges that many two-year college students face, as well as the college services available to help them cross such hurdles. Sitting on a panel before the House Education and Labor Committee that included […]
Stronger bonds and new services
Over three intense days during Mentor-Connect’s 2019 Technical Assistance and Grant Writing Workshop, faculty, administrators and grant writers on teams from 22 community colleges began as strangers — sometimes people from the same campus who barely knew each other prior — and emerged as colleagues who cheered for each others’ elevator speeches and divided the […]
Comment on Title IX proposed regulations
In November, the U.S. Department of Education announced proposed regulations governing how institutions must treat allegations of sexual harassment to be in compliance with Title IX. Now, education leaders can comment on that proposal. ED has issued a formal Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) will file a formal […]
Gearing up for Giving Tuesday
First, Thanksgiving. Then Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Get through all that, and you’ll reach Giving Tuesday on Nov. 27. It’s a day to engage the community and raise funds for campus causes. Here are a few ways to help you reach potential donors and encourage giving. Identify a cause. The list […]
New ways to raise revenues
The sales from auxiliary services such as cafeterias and retail stores can be a good source of revenue for community colleges. But sometimes, a little ingenuity is required. During the 2016-17 school year, the bookstore and food service operation at Orange County Community College in New York (SUNY Orange) lost more than $200,000 combined—and officials […]
Promising news on federal funding
Congressional negotiators have approved the final version of the fiscal year (FY) 2019 Labor, HHS and Education (LHHS) appropriations bill, and the news is mostly good for community colleges. The bill, which is joined with the FY 2019 Department of Defense appropriations legislation in a two-bill “minibus,” will be considered by the Senate next week […]
The early numbers
Stopping or slowing enrollment declines is something on the minds of most community college presidents. With the fall semester just getting underway, here’s a check in to see where a few colleges are at with their numbers. Enrollment is up at North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Community College after several years of flat enrollment. The college […]