Early Beginnings: Community Colleges Plant the Seed with Middle School Students

Community colleges are known for their low-cost education options that help students with limited funds get the training they need to find good jobs after graduation. However, many hopeful students realize that even community college can become an "impossible dream" once they discover federal loans are not available for many of these institutions.

A recent study from the Institute for College Access and Success found that more than one million students across 31 states cannot access the federal loans they need to make a college education a reality. We will explore the reasons behind this reality and how it impacts the ability of adults to get the education and training they need today.

What Federal Loans Can Do

The Institute for College Access and Success conducted this study through their initiative, Project on Student Debt, which is committed to helping make college more available and affordable to students of all backgrounds. The study states that community colleges serve various purposes, from awarding associate degrees and certificates to providing workforce training and lifelong learning opportunities for students of all ages. These schools are designed to serve students of all backgrounds and income levels, ensuring everyone in this country has access to the necessary training to land good jobs after graduation. Community colleges are currently educating 40 percent of all undergraduate students nationwide.

The low tuition and fee rates have historically made these institutions more affordable than other schools of

Two years ago, with a morbidly slumping economy and unemployment rates rising to the highest levels in decades, President Obama turned to community colleges as a means of bringing our country back to a state of robust economic health. According to a Washington Post report, Obama told the country that being unemployed is "no longer just a time to look for a new job." Instead, it's time to "prepare yourself for a better job."

To make it easier for displaced workers to get the training they needed to find employment once again, President Obama developed a plan that would allow unemployed workers to continue to receive unemployment benefits, as well as Pell Grants, to head back to school for retraining. Obama said, "I have asked every American to commit to at least one year of higher education. Every American will need more than a high school education."

Community Colleges Put it in Gear

To achieve Obama's end, community colleges across the country started kicking it into high gear, networking with employers in their area to provide job-specific training that would get the people in their communities back to work once again. However, it wasn't long before the economic crunch took its toll on higher education as well, and community colleges were forced to tighten their belts along with the rest of the country. With many budget cuts to grapple with, class sizes grew bigger and waitlists got longer. Still,

Community colleges have come to the forefront of higher education in recent years since President Obama made them one of the priorities of his administration. To help the process along, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program recently published a list of what it calls the nation's 120 best community colleges – which is the top 10 percent of all community colleges in the country. This list comes after extensive data collecting and analysis that attempted to accommodate the broad variations within community colleges while adhering to a general standardization that accurately compares schools.

The Contest for Top Spot

Now that the top 10% college list has been completed, the Aspen Institute hopes to continue the process by choosing 10 colleges out of the original 120. From the list of 10, the organization will select a single, top-performing school to award $1 million for excellence in school performance. According to the Aspen Institute's website, the contest's purpose is to raise awareness of the value of community colleges and reward those institutions that are committed to maintaining the highest standards of excellence in their educational pursuits.

To help them achieve this goal, the Aspen Institute recently appointed a high-profile jury to select the 10 finalists for the prize. The co-chairs of the jury are former Michigan Governor John Engler and former Secretary of Education Richard Riley. Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attended the announcement event. The Aspen prize had previously

California is amidst a genuine budget crisis, and higher education students are feeling the pinch just as much – if not more – than the rest of the state. According to a recent report at Mercury News, Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget cuts would trim another $400 million from community colleges and raise student fees by 40 percent. Some predict that the reduction would result in about 400,000 community college students being unable to get the necessary courses to complete their degree programs. While lawmakers continue to debate the proposed budget and its effect on California residents, college students are taking matters into their own hands.

What is Hands Across California?

Hands Across California is the latest organized effort by Ken Kragen, known for his work with Hands Across America, NetAid, and We Are the World fundraisers. Kragen entered the picture to help community college advocates raise awareness of the financial needs of students across the state. According to the Huffington Post, this movement, which took place on April 17, served two purposes: to raise awareness of today's college students' critical needs and to raise funding to support needy students through additional scholarships.

Money raised through Hands across California will go directly to support the California Community Colleges Scholarship Endowment. The Bernard Osher Foundation, well known for its support of the California community college system, has pledged a 50 percent match to all funds collected.

On April 17, 2011, community college students, employees,