Beyond Traditional College: The Role of Community Colleges, Career and Technical Postsecondary Education in Preparing a Globally Competitive Work Force

Abstract

The more than 1,200 community colleges in the country educate almost one-half of all undergraduates enrolled in college over the course of a year. They play a crucial role both in preparing a workforce for a modern competitive economy and in advancing the country’s commitment to providing widespread access to postsecondary education. Moreover, as a result of changing demographic and economic trends, the effectiveness of the postsecondary workforce development role will increasingly depend on its ability to provide effective education to groups of students who have, in the past, had more limited access to our colleges and universities. Community colleges are well positioned to bring together these sometimes conflicting equity and efficiency functions of higher education. But to do this effectively, community colleges will have to improve some internal practices, especially their work with students who enroll with weak academic skills. The integration of community colleges within the overall education system—the relationship between these colleges and high schools on the one hand and four-year colleges on the other— will also have to be strengthened. One problem that stands in the way of these improvements is that the image of the traditional college student still dominates thinking about higher education. The traditional student is a recent high school graduate attending a fouryear college or university full-time, living in a dormitory, and earning a bachelor’s degree after four uninterrupted years of study. But the traditional student defined in this way accounts for only about one-fifth of all college students and excludes community college students, many of whom are returning to college after some time in the labor force, and the majority of whom attend part-time. Only a tiny percentage of community college students live in a dorm. The continued focus on “traditional” college students diverts attention and resources from community colleges, weakens the data and information available to study and improve the operation of those colleges, and distorts policy discussions and policy-making in higher education. In this essay, I will describe the characteristics of community college students and discuss the role of the community college in increasing access to higher education by traditionally underserved students. I will describe the increasingly important contribution that they can make to preparing tomorrow’s workforce. And I will suggest how those functions can be improved, focusing on practices that can improve the colleges’ crucial work with students with weak academic skills and on efforts to strengthen the relationship between high schools, community colleges, and universities. Although many of these reforms will be the responsibility of the states, the federal government can also play a crucial role. Beyond Traditional College: The Role of Community Colleges, Career and Technical Postsecondary Education in Preparing a Globally Competitive Work Force