Community College Journal - April/May 2011

Now Is the Time

For many, the accomplishments of community colleges, as well as the challenges they face, are just now coming into view.

“there has never been a time that community colleges have received more attention,” says Bill holden, president of Kilgore College in Kilgore, texas, and chair-elect of the texas Association of Community College trustees. “the expectations being placed on us are pretty steep.” At the first-ever White house summit on Community Colleges late last year, President Obama dubbed U.s. two-year colleges essential to the nation’s economic recovery and challenged educators and administrators to boost flagging college completion rates. An ongoing series of regional community college summits hosted by the U.s. Department of education aims to carry that challenge further still.

Improving completion rates is far
from a novel concept. At last year’s
annual convention in seattle, leaders
from AACC and five other national
community college organizations
signed “A Call to Action,” in which
they pledged to increase the number
of students who complete community
college with a degree or certificate en
route to economically viable careers.
to date, nearly 40 colleges have stepped
forward to meet that challenge. (For
more, visit www.aacc.nche.edu/About/
Pages/ calltoaction.aspx.)

Educators meet—and listen—at a Listening Tour stop at Wayne County Community
College District’s Downriver campus in Michigan.

It sounds inspired. But, for many colleges, including Kilgore, it’s easier said than done. thanks to unprecedented growth in student enrollments and sharp reductions in state funding, community colleges in the Lone star state reportedly face a staggering $400 million in unfunded growth. A recent budget proposal in the texas house of Representatives would revoke or severely limit funding for four com-

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