INDIANAPOLIS – Arthur Call commutes three hours roundtrip to his anatomy class at community college because similar courses on campuses closer to his Indianapolis home are packed this semester.
“Classes around the state were just full,” says Call, a full-time student who takes the rest of his classes in Indianapolis. “Thank God it’s only Tuesdays. I just have to drive there once a week.”
President Barack Obama wants to invest some $12 billion in community colleges with the aim of seeing an additional 5 million students graduate by 2020. This goal comes while many schools are already bursting at the seams with droves of displaced workers hit by the recession competing with traditional students seeking an education bargain.
“All community colleges are not prepared to take on those potentially large numbers of students,” said Dr. Debra Bragg, a professor and director of the Forum on the Future of Public Education at the University of Illinois.
The Obama administration notes that 5 million more community college graduates doesn’t necessarily mean there will be that many more students; schools could increase graduation rates to reach the goal. And the administration says money from the 10-year initiative to rebuild aging facilities and establish online classes would help schools handle the extra students.
Bragg says the schools’ ability to deal with more students largely comes down to cash.
Much of the money for the nation’s 1,200 community colleges comes from local and state sources. That funding has been hard to come by during the economic downturn, even as enrollment booms. In California, community colleges are struggling to cope with $840 million in budget cuts while enrollment is expected to climb.
