Mentor-Connect is a leadership development and outreach initiative for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Advanced Technological Education Program (ATE). It’s designed to provide mentors, faculty development, and resources to help community colleges apply for and benefit from ATE. Basically, it’s a catalyst for the advancement of technician education. ATE began in 1993, and has since provided […]

While it hasn’t been the main focus of this year’s presidential election, higher education has found a place in both the Republican and Democratic parties’ platforms. The Republican Platform During the Republican National Convention, delegates approved the party’s 2016 platform. The document calls for alternatives to “traditional 4-year schools” and for the federal student loan […]

Nearly 40 percent of all community college students receive a Pell grant. For some of these students, a summer break in classes can lead to a permanent break. Offering year-round Pell (YRP) can eliminate that break and help students persist, leading to completion. Congress is closer than ever to reinstating YRP, which was eliminated in […]

Last month, Ray Perren, president of Lanier Technical College in Oakwood, Georgia, testified before the House Small Business Committee during a hearing titled “The New Faces of American Manufacturing,” which focused on how to best prepare the next generation of U.S. manufacturing workers. In his testimony, Perren called for a “Sputnik moment” in manufacturing-workforce development […]

The Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges recently celebrated a big milestone: It has raised over $32 million in five years. The foundation was created in 2009 in an attempt to cultivate business and foundation leaders who value the role community colleges play in meeting the state’s challenges. Leon Gorman, the former president of L.L. Bean […]

Until the close of Wyoming’s legislative session in March, funding for the state’s seven community colleges — located in Cheyenne, Casper, Sheridan, Riverton, Rock Springs, Powell and Torrington — was primarily based on enrollment numbers more than 10 years old. “Basically, at the beginning of every two-year cycle, we go back to [allocated funding based […]

Emergency-assistance grants have helped students at 16 Wisconsin technical colleges stay in school and receive degrees or certificates — and the program’s funder credits strong institutional support as a key reason for its success. In 2012, Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation awarded $1.5 million over three years to establish emergency grant programs at each […]

Want to know how much money the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD), in Texas, generated for its region in 2012–13? (The answer is $4.8 billion.) Or how many jobs that equates to? (More than 70,000.) Or how much money DCCCD students earn in higher wages for every $1 they invest in tuition and other […]

In the 15 years that he’s been in charge of fundraising at Northeast Mississippi Community College, in Booneville, Mississippi, Patrick Eaton has helped bring in $17 million in donations for the school. That longtime record, along with some of his most recent successes, earned Eaton the Council for Resource Development’s 2015 Campus Impact Award for […]

The U.S. Department of Education plans to change states’ access to data from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) beginning in 2017. But some state leaders fear this change will make it harder for them to administer their state aid programs, which could have a trickle-down effect on community college students and the […]