Community Colleges

Over the past six years, enrollment at Lone Star College has increased by 89 percent. Unfortunately the faculty has only increased by 11 percent, which has made the student-to-faculty ratio shift from 17:1 in 2006 to 29:1 in 2012. Furthermore, between 2006 and 2012, spending directly related to student instruction decreased from 27 percent of total spending to 16 percent.

Using a dataset containing nearly 500,000 courses taken by over 40,000 community and technical college students in Washington state, this study examines how well students adapt to the online environment in terms of their ability to persist and earn strong grades in online courses relative to their ability to do so in face-to-face courses.

America’s community colleges are the brokers of opportunity for a stronger middle class and more prosperous nation. Belfield and Bailey (2012) reviewed 20 studies on the earnings effects of a community college, concluding, “[T]his review affirms that there are strong positive earnings gains from community college attendance and completion, as well as progression to a 4-year college” (p. 60).

Creation of a community college in Livingston Parish would meet a major need in one of the fastest-growing areas of the state, officials said. As new medical centers, industries, and businesses open in the parish, demand increases for people with college and vocational training. “We think the time is right,” said Sen. Dale Erdey, R-Livingston. “We’ve got a good shot at this.”

Henry Ford Community College
Dearborne, Mich.
April 5-6, 2013

Homeland security isn’t just a color-coded risk chart at a press conference in Washington, D.C. It's now a new associate’s degree program in Homeland Security/Emergency Management. Set to begin in the fall, it’s the only program of its kind in the Intermountain West aside from a graduate degree offered in Las Vegas.

Mt. Hood Community College's board has whittled its list of potential presidents from 38 applicants to three finalists, all of whom are high-level administrators at other community colleges. Each finalist will take part individually in public forums on April 5 and then sit for a second interview with the college's board of education on April 6.

Owl Magazine, the student magazine of Harford Community College in Bel Air, recently won national honors in the Apple Awards Competition sponsored by the National College Media Association. The Winter 2012 issue placed second in the category of Best Magazine Cover.

Onondaga Community College announced today that Kathleen "Casey" Crabill (KRAY-bill) will become the eighth president of the college. Crabill was unanimously selected by the Onondaga Community College board of trustees, and approved today by the State University of New York board of trustees.

Maintaining healthy town/gown relations enhances campus life and generally makes the institutional mission easier to achieve. In recent years, however, community college officials are finding that efforts must go beyond providing cultural venues that locals can access.