Focus on community colleges bodes well for the Valley

President Barack obama and second lady Jill Biden gave community colleges across America their day in the sun earlier this week at a White House summit on this fastest growing segment of the higher-education matrix.

The eyes of the nation and of the Mahoning Valley — home of the rapidly evolving Eastern Gateway Community College — must remain sharply focused on these colleges and on the commitment to assist them in their multi-faceted mission that Obama, Biden and others so eloquently enunciated at the summit.

Specifically, the Obama administration hopes to spend $12 billion over the next four years to expand and improve community colleges and their services to students. The president has set a goal of 2020 for America to lead once again the world in producing college graduates. Toward that goal, he and Biden, herself a longtime community-college instructor, aim to produce an additional 5 million community-college degrees over the next 10 years.

VALUE OF FOCUS, INVESTMENT

Clearly such an investment will reap tangible dividends. Consider the impact Ohio’s network of 23 community and technical colleges — which includes EGCC — wields on the Buckeye State’s economy. According to the 2010 report titled “The Economic Contributions of Ohio’s Community Colleges,” conducted by Economic Modeling Specialist, Inc.:

For every dollar students invest in their education at a community college, they earn approximately $11,200 more a year throughout their working careers compared to those with no advanced degree.

For every $1 of local, state and federal tax money invested, there is a return of nearly $24.

Ohio realizes a social-cost savings of $42 million annually, because community-college graduates are less likely to require social services, such as welfare.

PROBLEMS MUST BE ADDRESSED

Yet despite this cornucopia of benefits that community colleges produce, the institutions are not without some serious challenges, challenges that some of the targeted federal investment must address.

One such challenge is student retention. A new study reviewed at this week’s White House summit showed that only 16 percent of first-time community-college students who began in 2003 attained a credential of any kind by 2006. An additional 40 percent were still enrolled in 2006, but nearly half of the entrants had given up and dropped out.

Many community colleges also must work harder at ensuring quality programming and stronger partnerships with community employers. Toward that end, Obama’s initiative announced at the summit holds promise. That initiative called “Skills for America’s Future” will match businesses with community-college students. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation got that program off to a rousing start Wednesday by investing $35 million into it.

This new-found focus on community colleges could not come at a more auspicious time for the Mahoning Valley. It was announced this week that EGCC will take over the first floor of the Atrium Building in downtown Warren, bringing a double-whammy of success — growth for the community college and a vibrant stimulus to the rejuvenation of downtown Warren.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17th of Niles, a staunch advocate of community colleges, has requested $1 million to support Eastern Gateway in the pending federal budget bill. He’s also very optimistic about the future:

“There’s gong to be hundreds of millions — if not billions — of dollars put into community colleges because they’re cheaper, more cost effective [and] more nimble in reaction to the local needs of the business community,” he said.

We look forward to the Mahoning Valley taking full advantage of the federal focus on community colleges as a means to make EGCC one of the finest such learning centers in the state as well as a vibrant economic engine for our community for generations to come.