Community Colleges in North Carolina

Community Colleges in North Carolina In the United States of America, and in Canada, there are 'Community Colleges', at times also known as 'Junior Colleges', which are educational institutions that would provide post secondary education, or in other words, the continuing education that is pursued after attending either high school, or a secondary school. The community college would also provide lower level 'tertiary education' which is, in other words, the third stage education that is pursued after finishing higher secondary education.

After the completion of the required courses from a Community College, certificates, diplomas, and associates degrees would be offered to the students. Most of the students who generally attend a Community College are from the local community, and the colleges are supported by the local community with the help of property taxes.

One of the biggest advantages of a Community College is that it is in general geared towards the educational support of students from the local communities, who have local needs, and for those students who cannot afford to pay for campus or off site housing during their four-year college studies, it is possible for them to stay in the local communities even while attending college.

(Community College) Furthermore, a Community College works in tandem with local businesses, and this would mean that it would also be possible to develop customized training that is geared and adapted towards the local needs and requirements, and this would help the students adapt sooner to a work environment. The 'open enrollment' system is also of great advantage to the local community, because it means that anyone can begin their goal towards higher education by simply enrolling n the Community Colleges.

Those students who have been performing at a mediocre level throughout their lives can also think about enrolling, and they would be completely supported in their decisions to better their lives through higher education. The fees to be paid is much lower than elsewhere, and in addition, there is no real time limit to when the classes must be taken, and when they must be completed.

However, there are certain disadvantages in a Community College, and some of them are that, for one, it is difficult to transfer credits, but it is indeed possible to engage in 'distance learning' today. However, the lecturers of Community Colleges may be just part time and less qualified than the lecturers in other colleges, and since mort Community Colleges do not offer on site housing for their students, most students find it quite difficult to participate in any extra curricular activities that may interest them.

(Community College) However, it must be mentioned that Community Colleges are indeed making a large difference in students' lives, and these students can also be quite eloquent when asked to describe themselves, in the context of their attending Community Colleges.

For example, one student, Michael, an African-American in his forties, was asked about his feeling towards his Community College, and this is what he said: before he joined the college, he was in a state of depression, but as soon as he joined; he developed self-confidence and self assurance, and the very manner in which he describes himself has changed as well. He said, "My ideas are changing," and he was even thinking about taking up teaching.

His life had improved dramatically and considerably, just in the same way as another student, Julia, who enrolled in a Community College because she was frightened that her husband was about to leave her, and she wanted to develop some sort of marketing skill in order to be able to better survive alone. After her enrollment, she started to develop confidence, and she even turned into a feminist.

(Shaw; Valadez; Rhodes, 1999) It must be noted that, despite such glowing testimonials, there is severe criticism, however, about Community Colleges and the type of education that they offer. One issue is that of the 'open access' system, which, some people state, is at the very lowest rung of the academic hierarchy.

The faculty of the Community Colleges is also often denied any status as 'sociologists', or as 'philosophers', and they tend to redefine themselves as 'teachers', and as a result, they are invariably pushed even further back from their original disciplines. (McGrath, 1991) However, there can be nothing dearer to the leader of a Community College than the fact that its doors are open to anyone who desires to enter them, at any time at all.

Take the early years of the 1960's, and 1970's for example, when new Community Colleges were opening in the United States of America, at the rate of one college per week, and soon afterwards, from the 1970's to the early 1990's, Community Colleges all over America were enrolling about five million students, through their open access system, during which time it was these Colleges that were in fact paving the way for higher education for the many students enrolling in them, most of whom were from economically backward communities, and from lower income groups.

Today, as a result, about 60% of Community College students are, according to statistics form the National Center for Education Statistics, first generation.

(Vaughan, 2003) This is ample proof that the system was indeed working satisfactorily, but today, the question most often being asked is whether the system can continue or must it stop? It must be remembered that Community Colleges have been functioning effectively due to the grants that they have been receiving from state and from local legislators, for the past forty years and more, and this, even when there was an acute shortage of money from taxes, albeit with a few adjustments.

Full time faculty members have been replaced with adjuncts, fewer and also larger classes are being offered today, and gradually, schedules are indeed becoming less flexible, and today, there are more numbers of students than the taxes would be able to support, like for example, in Washington, last year, when there were 9,000 enrollments, but with no tax revenues to support them.

Today, more and more Community Colleges are accepting the fact that the open access system may be a failure, because o the simple fact that there are more enrollments than thy can support, a fact that would ultimately lead to fiscal irresponsibility, and that there are more students than there are seats. In California, for example, Community Colleges had to exclude an estimated 19,000 students because of midyear budget cuts.

However, when there are cut offs, then it will be the economically backward and the most neediest classes that would have to suffer most, because of the simple fact that they do not comprehend the intricacies of the admissions and the forms to be filled out, and as a consequence, they are left behind. In California, it is estimated that Community Colleges would turn away more than 20,000 black and Hispanic students form gaining admission through the open access system.

(Vaughan, 2003) Some old timers may want to keep open their doors to all the students who turn up, but the fact is that there is no longer funding available for all these students, and therefore, in order to remain true to their inherent mission, all Community Colleges in the United States must make attempts to make sure that it would serve all segments of a community, and not all its members.

For example, these colleges must provide access to students from economically backward white families, minority communities, new immigrants, middle class homemakers, and unemployed persons, but also at the same time, make sure that enrollments are limited, so that the open access system may also be maintained. Many Community Colleges, including those in North Carolina, have today been able to effectively establish selective admissions programs for their colleges, for certain specialized areas of education, like for example, nursing.

It can be stated that if all Community Colleges were to adapt the same principle, whereby they would at the outset develop the programs that would be most in keeping with their missions and then later admit students up to the point that these missions would be accomplished, and then eventually close the doors to any more enrollments, then it would be an infinitely better prospect for the students seeking admission, especially for those students who are given admission, but for whom there is no appropriate funding.

At the same time, they must also make sure that there are representatives from all segments of society, and this would mean that it would indeed be possible to preserve the open access system even today. (Vaughan, 2003) It is important to note that North Carolina established a Standard Course of Study in the year 1898, and this curriculum provides a set of competencies for each grade, and for the high school, so that there may be a uniform and a consistent performance standard all over the entire state.

(NC Standard Course of Study) When in 1999 the North Carolina general assembly made a special provision, for the State Board of Community Colleges, and in response, twelve performance measures and standards were developed, it was of great benefit to the students of that state's Community Colleges. (North Carolina Community College, system 2004, critical success factors) However, it must be mentioned that North Carolina is for the main part a public sector state, and it has a strong and a very well respected group of private Four-year colleges, and Community Colleges.

While the four-year colleges in the state serve about 39% of all the undergraduates, the public Community Colleges serve about 43% of all students of the state. An important factor in North Carolina's Community Colleges is that the rate of tuition is very low, and at the same time, the state has been quite slow in building need-based state grant programs, because of their basic presumption that the needs of the economically backward students were being met by the Community Colleges.

However, when the rats of tuition were hiked up during the 1990's, North Carolina was able to create a grant program for the students of these colleges, and it was instituted at the very same time, so that all the numerous Community Colleges of the state would be able to take full advantage of the new federal tuition tax credits.

(North Carolina) The State Board of Community Colleges is the primary governing Board for these colleges, and of the fifty eight Community Colleges, a few are public junior colleges, while some others are industrial education centers, with an emphasis on technical and vocational education. All the junior colleges have associate degree, diploma, and also state transfer programs. Statistics reveal that there will soon be a rapid population growth in the state in the near future, and the resultant growth in the school age population is estimated at a rate of 20%.

Today, North Carolina has showed that it wants more enrollments into its Community Colleges, and in order to meet this demand sufficiently, the state has been busy with planning certain initiatives that include, among others, strengthening the Community College Transfers. Therefore, in 1995, the Board of Governors of the State of North Carolina and the State Board of the Community Colleges together have developed a statewide articulation policy that would effectively lend more strength to the state's Community Colleges, and their transfer functions.

A general education transfer core curriculum was established as a result, and this would be applicable to all the associate degree programs in all the state's public institutions.

What this means is that those students who enter the Community College Programs without having completed their high school courses, which they would require for admission into the University of North Carolina, must finish at the very least two courses in a foreign language, in addition to their general education transfer core, and those transfer students who have completed their core course must still compete for admission into a four-year college.

(North Carolina) North Carolina Community Colleges believe in the GED testing system, wherein after attaining the minimum standard scores of 410 on each of the total number of five tests, a high school diploma equivalent would be awarded to the student. The five tests are based on language arts writing, science, language arts reading, social studies, and mathematics.

(General Educational Development) The Basic Skills Program, on the other hand, is to offer educational opportunities to students, sixteen years and older, who are out of school, so that they may be able to function better in the society. (Basic Skills) There is also a lot of emphasis on community education, whereby formal and informal adult learning is taken care of by the Community Colleges.

The Department of Adult and Community College Education, or in other words, the ACCE, is a rather unique department because it lays great emphasis on taking care of a wide spectrum of informal and formal learners.

(Adult and Community College Education Competencies for Community College Leaders) In order to take care of the financial aspect of the educational program, the State Board of Community Colleges of North Carolina contracted with the NCSEAA, or in other words, the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority, to avail of financial aid and grants, thus making sure that not many students would be left behind as a result of paucity of funds.

In order to avail of the program, the students must meet certain specified criterion, some of which are: he must have been admitted into a curriculum program for at least six credit hours per semester, he must be a resident of the state of North Carolina, and he must be able to meet all the other requirement under the North Carolina Community College system.

(Policies for the North Carolina Community College Grant, Loan program and targeted Financial Assistance) In order to help students to become more aware of global happening, the Community Colleges of North Carolina developed Global Action Plans in conjunction with the Global Educational Conference.

(Global Education Action Plans) In North Carolina, the emphasis is on the creation of a learning centered environment for the students of Community Colleges, and this also means that there is an emphasis on pro-active leadership training, and a practical competency framework has been created to facilitate this, and what it means is that emerging leaders would be able to chart their personal development, while at the same time, program leaders would be provided with guidelines for their curriculum.

Since it is today widely acknowledged that Community Colleges are experiencing a leadership gap, while at the same time, the leadership skills required have widened due to increasing globalization, the American Association of Community Colleges has created a set of comprehensive competencies, with which the students of Community Colleges would be able to learn better, and become veritable leaders.

(American Association of community Colleges) Since a Community College must also serve the needs of the community in which it is based, many colleges in North Carolina have in fact developed orientation programs that would deal with the local communities, like for example, since there was evidence to show that the Hispanic population in the state had increased by a 394% from 1990, it was decided by the faculty and the staff of the Community Colleges that they would work towards meeting the requirements of this particular community.

As a matter of fact, Patrick Pittman, the coordinator of Adult/Basic Education/English as a second language, has stated that this system has ensured that there are more number of participants in the ESL classes, and what is more important is that most of these students are from the Asian or from the Hispanic communities.

However, this may present a challenge for the faculty, in handling the varied cultures, like for example; Hispanic children are taught to look down when talking to adults, while American children are taught to look into the other person's eyes while talking to him. A series of workshops are today being held to make the faculty and the students aware of these cultural differences, so that they may all work together in the better manner for the betterment of the community.

(Serving growing Hispanic population) Today, in light of the increasing globalization, there is an increased emphasis on the workforce preparation for the young people, especially in certain important areas like mid level and higher skill development, and this means that there must be better preparation at the level of higher secondary education itself.

This in turn means that the role that Community Colleges play must increase tremendously in order to handle the preparation of today's young people for the workforce of the nation, more effectively, as regarding school reform, and school to work transition system building. Several local, state and federal reform initiatives have started to, both directly and indirectly, press Community Colleges and Secondary Schools to be better coordinated with each other.

The three important federal polices: Tech Prep of the Vocational Education Act, the School to Work Education Opportunities Act, and the Goals 2000, the Educate America Act hold certain priorities. (Orr, 2004) One of them is that Community Colleges must foster high academic standards and also concentrate on occupational skill development, and they must also prepare their students well enough so that they may be able to further their own education, and also give the required importance to occupational skill development.

The Colleges must also support more integration and cooperate better with K12 schools, and post secondary institutions and finally, be willing to bring in general reforms to the public educational system, and particularly in the Community College system. In a study of several Community Colleges all over the United States of America, one example can be taken, that of a college in New Jersey. This College was in fact serving a large and disparate array of both urban and rural communities.

This College started the Tech Prep initiative in 1991, but it has found that it was not able to engage more than 9 out of 20 school districts in its plan. In another.