Community Colleges

This weekend, along the border’s southern tip, homecoming at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College will be bittersweet for many. It will be one of the last, at least for the unique partnership between a community college and an upper-division university that operated as one institution for 20 years.

Whoever succeeds Ron Wright as chancellor of Delgado Community College will assume command of a school where enrollment is booming while the budget is shrinking. Delgado, the biggest local institution of higher education, enrolled 20,452 students at its nine sites this semester, a 55 percent jump compared with the total five years ago. Meanwhile, the state's per-student allotment for full-time Delgado students dropped by about 43 percent during the same period.

Middle Tennessee State University and Motlow State Community College have announced a dual-admission program that will help students earning a two-year associate's degree to apply those credits toward a bachelor's degree.

Ron Wright, who had been Delgado Community College's chancellor before going on medical leave earlier this year, has been tapped to lead the development of Centers of Excellence throughout the Louisiana Community and Technical College System. Wright, 64, whose appointment was effective Tuesday, had been Delgado's leader since July 2008.

In a dramatic departure from past practice, the college’s School of Health Sciences will give priority to students who demonstrate the best chance of success in associate’s-degree programs for nurses, dental hygienists and radiological technicians. Criteria announced Tuesday replace a first-come, first-served system that resulted in multiyear wait lists.

In a recent video addressed to the public, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan again reiterated the importance of income-based student loan repayment options and weighed in on the significance of community colleges.

If students in Texas colleges are feeling a little cramped on campus, it isn't just their imaginations.

After years of funding cuts, the open-door system must change and prioritize, the panel suggests, starting with a 22-point reform plan.

More students enrolling in two-year programs; more continuing studies at four-year colleges

North Shore Community College is celebrating the completion of a $31 million building project that puts it on the cutting edge of the green building movement.