When Community Colleges are at Risk of Losing Accreditation

During the current economic slowdown, more adults are heading back to community college to get the necessary retraining for more lucrative careers. High school graduates that cannot afford a four-year university right away are looking at community colleges as a less expensive route to the education they need. It sounds like community colleges are the perfect answer, right?

Unfortunately, community colleges are not the white knight that many struggling in a sluggish economy would hope. These institutions are facing diminishing financing themselves, at a time when enrollment demand for a community college education is at an all time high. Many community colleges across the country are facing the inconceivable reality of turning students away at the door because there is simply no more room in the classes to accommodate them. One of the states that has been hit hardest with the community college overload is California – and it doesn't look like there is any relief in sight.

Long Wait Lists and Less Support Available

According to a recent report at the Los Angeles Times, more than 140,000 students were turned away from community colleges in California during the last academic year. This year, the number of students who can't get into classes is predicted to be double. At Cypress College, around 6,200 students were on wait lists for courses last year, with 13,000 more waiting at Bakersfield College and as many as 80,000 in the Los Rios

Dr. Maria Montessori, founder of the Montessori education model, believed that the first three years of a child's life are critical to emotional and mental development. Until recently, those who were responsible for caring for and educating these youngsters were primarily untrained and underpaid. Fortunately, the tide appears to change in training early childhood educators, and community colleges are at the forefront of the new trend. We will examine how early training impacts children and what community colleges are doing to raise a new generation of early childhood educators equipped to answer the call.

The Importance of Early Childhood Education

According to a report in Community College Week, more research continues to surface regarding the importance of the years from birth to age three. A child's brain begins connecting to his outer world during this developmental time. This age group has been historically dubbed the future of our nation. Yet, the educational system rarely invests the time, effort, and money to educate this demographic as effectively as possible. In fact, those at the front of the public education movement often regard early childhood education as an afterthought – after the more important issues like school choice, student performance, and educational standards.

A report by the New American Foundation called attention to our young's educational plight in a CCW report that stated pre-kindergarten education has "long been the poor stepchild of the education system, with fewer resources, spotty quality standards, and limited attention to children's learning outcomes. To

Community college enrollment is gaining steam across the country, thanks in part to the current administration's focus on these educational institutions. However, some community colleges are growing faster than others due to the programs they offer and other significant factors. We will look at some of the hotbeds of community college enrollment growth and the key factors impacting the sudden popularity of these institutions.

Reasons for Growth

There are many reasons why community college enrollment continues to grow at an astronomical pace around the country. According to a report in Community College Week, the biggest reason for the growth is the Great Recession of 2007, which put many adults in this country out of work and sent them back to school to get training in a more lucrative profession. It is no secret that an economic slowdown can increase college enrollment. However, the current economic conditions, due to the degree and longevity of the problems, have strained community colleges past the point of being able to adequately serve all the students coming to them for an education.

The Obama Administration has also played a role in the increase in community college student bodies. President Obama has called on this country to produce another five million college graduates by 2020 in response to news that the United States has fallen to 10^th among industrialized nations in terms of educational attainment. Colleges have been scrambling to answer the call as federal funding has come

Ever since tragedy hit Virginia Tech in 2007, college campuses have been examining ways to make their schools safer for students and faculty. The more recent shootings in Arizona have further illustrated the need for intervention with disturbed students who could pose a potential danger to themselves or others. However, identifying the problem and finding a reasonable solution are two very different things. We will take a look at how some colleges are learning lessons from the Arizona tragedy and using what they learned to enhance safety on their campuses.

About Jared Loughner

Jared Loughner was a student at Pima Community College in Tucson. The college became concerned about some of Loughner's erratic behavior and eventually suspended him from the school. A few months after Loughner's suspension, he opened fire on a shopping mall in Arizona, wounding 13 and killing six people, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

According to a report at Google News, officials at Pima Community College released 51 pages of police documents on Loughner, depicting him as "creepy," "very hostile," and "having difficulty understanding what he did wrong in the classroom."

When Loughner released a YouTube video that called the college a "scam" and associated it with genocide, school officials told Loughner and his parents that he was no longer able to return to his classes. He would also need to obtain a report from a psychiatrist attesting to his mental health before coming back to the school campus again.