“There’s a huge storm going on, and there is an avalanche of students descending upon all of higher ed — not just community colleges, but community colleges particularly are very heavily impacted because of the wide diversity of their programming,” said Jim McKenney, the vice president for economic development and international services at the American Association of Community Colleges.
Despite limited finances, some community colleges are increasing class sizes, developing fast-track programs, scheduling late-night classes or adding more class sections to get students into the workforce.
“Their funding formula is based upon how many students that they had last year,” McKenney said, “and if all of a sudden you have a big spike in the number of students coming in, but you have the amount of money that you had last year, you have a problem.”
Aside from preparing students for different occupations, colleges can teach them new skills in their current career track, including skills that help preserve the environment.
Macomb Community College in Michigan offers a Renewable Energy Technology certificate so that workers can learn how to integrate renewable energy into their skill set.
Vocational programs at community colleges such as Macomb help students choose new career paths and learn new skills so that they can succeed in the workforce.
