News
Are Community Colleges Still "Democracy's Colleges"?
ICCD to Hold Conference from July 27-30 at Cornell University
By Sherrie Negrea
Institute for Community College Development
Spring 2008
The mission of two-year colleges to serve as accessible, affordable and diverse educational institutions has largely not changed since they were designated as community colleges in the 1948 Truman Commission report.
Responding to the needs of thousands of veterans returning home from World War II, the commission called for the establishment in every state of two-year colleges accessible to anyone 18 years or older, with minimal or no tuition and with comprehensive programs along with vocational and career training.
Yet 60 years later, as the demographics of community college students have shifted, new challenges have evolved: Should undocumented students be offered admission? How should community colleges respond to growing numbers of international students? And how should diversity be defined in the twenty-first century?
Community college leaders from across the country will explore these issues at a conference sponsored by the Institute of Community College Development (ICCD), "Are We Still 'Democracy's Colleges?'" from July 27 to 30 at Cornell University. Designed for community college presidents, administrators, faculty and trustees, the conference will focus on the issues of access, success and educating for democracy.
"Being democracy's colleges means providing access, regardless of financial ability, and success so students can fulfill their goals of education, employment and civic participation," said Barbara Viniar, executive director of the ICCD.
One community college facing these challenges is Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), located on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. With students from 165 nations and territories, one fifth of whom were not born in the United States, the school has a population that is 52 percent nonwhite.
"We're a minority-majority institution now and I suspect in many urban areas, it’s the same," said Robert G. Templin Jr., president of NOVA since 2002 (pictured at left).
This year, the college was thrust into the national immigration debate after it argued before the Virginia State Council on Higher Education that an honors student from a local high school should qualify for in-state tuition, even though her parents are undocumented immigrants from El Salvador.
In April, the Virginia Attorney General decided that U.S. born students who have always lived in Virginia may be eligible for in-state tuition, even if their parents are in the country illegally. But that opinion has since been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Each year, about 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools. Though the U.S. Supreme Court has guaranteed those students the right to a free public education through high school, their admission to college is uncertain.
"By and large, there are undocumented students who attend community colleges," said James Hermes, a senior legislative associate with the American Association of Community Colleges in Washington, D.C. "In ten states, they are able to do that with in-state tuition. In the other states, they have to pay out-of-state tuition, which is such an insurmountable barrier for them. Even in the states where they are able to get in-state tuition, not one of them would qualify for any form of federal or state student aid."
Originally proposed in Congress in 2001, the DREAM Act would grant conditional legal residency to students brought to the United States before the age of 16 and living here for five years before the law is enacted. After completing two years of college or military service, the students would then qualify for permanent legal status. Though it has bipartisan support, the bill has so far failed to win the 60 votes needed to allow it to proceed to a debate in the Senate.
In the new technological economy, an increasing number of employers are requiring workers to have four-year college degrees, but for many community college students, that goal remains elusive because of financial and other obstacles.
In 2006, Cornell University received an $810,000 grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to offer special advising services and informational sessions to students at Morrisville State College and Monroe Community College to help them transfer to Cornell. As a result of the program, called the Pathway to Success Community College Partnership, 32 students from the two colleges transferred to Cornell last fall.
The students arrived on the campus in Ithaca, N.Y. before the freshmen and returning students to attend a pre-orientation session in which they could meet other transfers in the program. During the academic year, they also attend monthly workshops that focus on resume writing, career development and finance and budgeting.
"Many of these students who transferred never thought that they could become a Cornell student," said Maria E. Montesano, the program’s coordinator. "Maybe we built their confidence to do so. We try to make it an easier transition for them."
Visit "Are We Still 'Democracy's Colleges?" to learn more.
Sherrie Negrea is a writer for the Institute for Community College Development.
