Gov. Warner’s idea of cross-enrolling high school students, particularly those suffering “senioritis,” in community college courses is a great initiative. Students get challenged with a taste of the “next level” and earn college credits they can hopefully apply to their four year college.
Another idea using the community college system comes from Glenn DuBois, chancellor of the Virginia Community College system. According to this Gary Robertson story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, DuBois hopes to counter rising demand on enrollment at Virginia’s public universities by incentivizing more students to start at community colleges and transfer:
Under the proposal, which he has circulated to legislators, community college graduates with a grade-point average of B or better would pay the community college tuition rate at the four-year public institutions to which they transfer.
In addition, the four-year institution would receive $1,000 per transfer student. DuBois has estimated that the program would cost the state about $4 million annually.
Savings to the state would come from the estimated $4,500 he says the state will save for every full-time Virginia student who begins his or her education at a community college.
“The lowest cost to a baccalaureate degree is the community college on-ramp,” DuBois said. “It’s the lowest cost for Virginia families. It’s the lowest cost for the state.”
I don’t know if DuBois’ payout numbers are accurate and defensible, but it’s the kind of thinking needed to confront expected shortfalls in capacity:
The increase of students trying to enter college is tied to record school-age enrollments. In the past five years alone, the state’s number of high school graduates has risen 11 percent.
In 1999-2000, there were 67,458 graduates statewide. By 2003-2004, the number had jumped to 75,101. Numbers for the most recent class of graduates are not yet available, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
There are several problems with DuBois’ idea, not the least of which is that he’s got a vested interest in enlarging his community college portfolio. That aside, there are already shortages of community college slots for certain curricula, such as nursing. Is the faculty infrastructure up to his plan? There’s a marketing issue. The State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) turned thumbs-down to a proposal to build a four year college in Southside because it didn’t believe students would matriculate there. Going to community college will not be nearly as glamorous as going away to school–is this financial carrot enough to overcome the intial disappointment of not being able to live in a dorm?
It’s certainly an idea worth pursuing. Maybe community colleges can do more to seem like a college community in Blacksburg, Fredericksburg, or Farmville. If just the type of students who drop out in their first two years of a four year college for maturity reasons took up the DuBois plan, it might be worth it.