Public Administration Programs in America’s Community Colleges: The Implications of their Surprising Scarcity

Abstract

Almost half of all undergraduate students in the United States are enrolled in community colleges, and it was once expected that the nation’s community colleges would move aggressively to provide introductory-level education in public affairs/administration. Our research, however, reveals that less than two percent of America’s community colleges offer associate’s degree programs in public affairs/administration. A telephone survey of the programs that exist revealed substantial curriculum content overlap that could present articulation problems for students who move on to four-year degrees and graduate work in our profession. Community colleges play major roles in educating some categories of public servants, especially those in the public safety and health areas, but the need for “mass” education in public affairs/administration, which is oriented to training first-level supervisors in the basics of public service and management skills, is not being met by community colleges.