Community College News

New construction may be at a standstill for the housing market throughout the West Coast, but that slowdown hasn’t impacted construction enhancements at many community colleges around the state of California. From new student centers to “green” classrooms, the projects at institutions of higher education right now are making up a large percentage of the total construction occuring around the state. And since colleges had already earmarked portions of their budget for the enhancements, many schools are finding they are actually saving money, thanks to the lower cost of supplies and property over the past few years. We’ll take a look at how some California community colleges are gearing up for bigger, better campuses in the not-so-distant future.

50 Projects, $1.6 Billion

According to a recent report at Sign on San Diego, more than 50 construction projects are currently underway at community colleges and universities across the state of California. The total projected cost for the combined effort is around $1.6 billion, a huge boon to a slumping construction industry where only a few housing projects are still up and running. In addition to the current projects, there are many more waiting to begin, ensuring the construction industry for the state will continue to find work and revenue for some years to come.

Boone Hellmann, University of California, San Diego vice chancellor for facilities, design and construction, told Sign on San Diego, “I think it’s extraordinarily fortunate to have an influx of work in both

Community colleges have historically offered a wide range of degree programs to help individuals get the training they need to move quickly into the career of their choice. To keep up with the recent surge in community college enrollment that has occurred during the current economic slowdown, many community colleges are ramping up all new degree programs to broaden their offerings even further. Some of the new programs are provided in partnership with local four-year universities, while others are geared toward up and coming industries where employment opportunities show great promise. We’ll take a look at a few of the colleges across the nation that are working to give students an eclectic selection of degree programs.

Ivy Tech Expanding Programs

Ivy Tech is one of the colleges planning to offer a wider choice in degree programs for the next academic year. According to a report in the Indiana Economic Digest, the Indiana Commission for Higher Education recently approved new certificate and degree programs for a number of the Ivy Tech campuses in the state. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning degree program will be expanding to include certification, as well as an associate’s degree. The associate degree program in dental hygiene will also enlarge to incorporate a technical certificate in dental assisting.

Ivy Tech will also be adding an associate of science program for those interested in entering the field of engineering. The pre-engineering degree will prepare students for entry-level work in their

The Skills for America's Future program was introduced by the current administration as a way to match up community college training with fields in need of qualified workers. The idea behind the initiative was to make community college graduates more competitive and marketable in the real world after school and provide industries with highly qualified workers. This month, President Obama announced that Skills for America's Future will expand further, ensuring more community college students get the training they need to find successful, lucrative jobs once their college training is complete.

What is the Skills for America's Future Program?

Last year, President Obama launched an ambitious initiative along with the Aspen Institute, designed to bring companies together with community colleges to produce future workers that would be highly qualified and able to compete in a global market. The movement was dubbed Skills for America's Future, and it began with partnerships between industries and academia that would coordinate the training and build the skills of a qualified workforce in the United States. According to the Aspen Institute website, the initiative would serve as a broad umbrella under which labor unions, corporations, and community colleges could coordinate their efforts to train a new generation of American workers.

From its inception, Skills for America's Future began signing on a number of key players to help the initiative achieve its goals. Some of the leaders that have worked with the Skills for America's Future program since the beginning include

President Obama announced an ambitious plan to graduate an additional 5 million community college students by 2020. To achieve this end, the President has raised awareness about the benefits of community colleges and issued grants and other funding to increase enrollment levels across the country. However, getting more students into college is only the first part of the battle.

Low Completion Rates a National Problem

Graduation rates for community colleges are currently dismal at best, with less than one-quarter who enroll in a college graduating from a degree or certificate program within three years, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle. That figure varies throughout the country, with some states seeing even lower graduation rates. For example, Texas faces a community college graduation rate of just 12 percent within three years, although that number goes up to 30 percent within six years. Still, if community colleges are to raise a workforce that can compete in the global economy, they must do much better than the status quo.

The worst numbers appear to come from low-income students, who enter community college to bring themselves to a higher earning level. However, most of these students never complete their degree or certificate program, which reduces their chances of a decent-paying job or transfer to a four-year institution. In a community college summit last fall, President Obama told the Christian Science Monitor, "In the coming years, jobs requiring at

Summer is the time that many homeowners kick their renovation projects in high gear, but homeowners aren't the only ones sprucing up their environment this year. Community colleges around the country are finding ways to make the campus experience more attractive to students and staff. Despite tight budgets for many schools, some are getting creative in finding ways to spruce up their campus grounds without breaking the bank. We'll take a look at how three community colleges are providing their students with a prettier place to head back to class.

Taking Trash to a Whole New Level

Laredo Community College art students have found a new way to bring their artistic endeavors to life. According to a recent report in the Laredo Sun, many of the art students at this school have spent the last semester experimenting with a brand new medium – large steel drums that serve as outdoor trash cans throughout the campus. The painted drums are a part of a Laredo campus beautification project known as "Yes We Can!"

For this part of the project, art students painted 19 well-known works of art onto the cans, including masterpieces by Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne and Diego Rivera. Creating a design for the paintings from a two-dimensional canvas to a cylinder was more than a little challenging. Students began by reproducing pictures from an art history book and transferring them onto a 3-foot cylinder using a redrawing technique. From there, students designed their images