Charging on to Community Colleges
Written by Christopher Prawdzik
MAE 2009 Volume: 4 Issue: 5 (September/October)
Community Colleges' Lower Costs, Career-Minded
Coursework and Flexible Programs Lure an
Increasing Number of Military-Related Students.
Mention the Montgomery GI Bill, and oftentimes thoughts of four-year universities come to mind—advanced degree programs and sprawling central locations that veterans attend to pick up their bachelor’s and advanced degrees after serving their country. And that is the case for many active, Reserve or retired servicemembers. But that vision includes only a portion of the opportunities offered to thousands of veterans each year.
Differing from the dynamic of the typical 18-year-old university freshman, many military veterans’ responsibilities and career aspirations reflect years of experience within the military on top of larger commitments to work, family and other things that put them on a different track than the typical student attending a fouryear college.
Theresa Carr, dean of enrollment management at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), noted this almost immediately in discussing the experiences of military-related students, using pre-law student Sherri Howard as a prime example.
Howard is a Navy Reservist and mother of five. She takes online classes that fit her schedule and that of her family. She was a full-time student when deployed to the Middle East, kept up to date with classes while deployed, and picked up where she left off when she returned home.
“We worked with her and helped her make the most of her educational opportunities during and after her service to her country,” Carr said. “We communicated with her when she was in the Middle East, so she’s really a great success story.”
It’s a story that continues to be repeated as students enroll for the fall semester across the country. CCBC, for instance, had already enrolled 628 veterans as of August, with many more still going through the enrollment process. Many veterans, or those soon separating from the military, might not even consider community college instead of a four-year institution. Yet it’s a growing option for many whose lives and personal circumstances better fit the community college atmosphere, flexibility and accessibility. It’s also an option that provides the degree programs, small classes and strategically placed facilities that give students the complete education they might think only possible in a four-year institution. In addition, it’s affordable, often costing around 75 percent less than a four-year university.
LEADING INSTITUTIONS
With more than 1,100 community colleges across the country and nearly 12 million students enrolled, these higher learning institutions include more than 40 percent of all undergraduates in the country. About 40 percent of all first-time freshmen attend community colleges, and about 60 percent of the students are parttime, with additional family obligations and jobs often taking up the rest of their busy schedules.
With an average community college student age of nearly 30 years, schools across the country provide a different educational landscape than many other institutions, but it’s a landscape often most appealing to veterans. Looking to make the most of this appeal, the community colleges themselves note the increased benefits now available to servicemembers and are working harder than ever to lure more of them to their schools. Columbus State Community College (CSCC), in Columbus, Ohio, for example, has a small staff that works with veterans to make the most of benefits available from the Department of Veterans Affairs. But a number of students also receive benefits under a state program with the Ohio National Guard.
Staff at community colleges also work to make sure that, in addition to handling financial issues, their campuses and online facilities are sufficiently attuned to the psychological needs and desires of veterans. CCBC, for example, formed a committee in 2008 to get people from the various discipline areas around the college to provide services and programs for veterans and also developed a veterans’ services action plan, anticipating an increase in the veteran population.
But it’s the educational opportunities that are tantamount, helping returning veterans oftentimes begin a new career after dedicated military service. One of the initial steps for CCBC is connecting with National Guard and Reserve personnel during drill weekends to discuss the variety of educational opportunities afforded veterans at their three campuses. For example, community colleges not only offer degree programs, but also certificate and training programs that allow a quick transition to a new career—often the best option for veterans.
“A lot of [veterans] are coming in and taking general studies just to see; they’re fishing,” Carr said. “That’s OK … maybe they’ll come a semester here and they’ll go through some career counseling and then they’ll zero in on what they want to do.”
GOOD FIRST STEP
David Metz, CSCC’s director of financial aid and veterans’ services, said many students in CSCC programs view the school as a kind of bridge to a four-year institution, where they may transfer after they get their associate of arts or applied science degree. The situation is similar at the Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), which is just a stone’s throw from a variety of military installations, including Fort Belvoir, Marine Corps Base Quantico, and the Pentagon.
With about 70,000 students from a variety of backgrounds enrolled in credit courses, NOVA is the second largest community college system in the country, and serves as a starting point for many veterans looking to get started in academic life and eventually transfer to a four-year school.
“We should be like sonar beeping out there as we get feedback, making course corrections—literally and figuratively—to meet the needs of the community and the students,” said Brian Foley, provost of NOVA’s Medical Education Campus. “This gives them the opportunity to get back into the academic environment [and] gives them an opportunity to decide what they want to major in,” said Foley.
Certainly, economics play a large part in the selection of community colleges over four-year institutions, as Carr and others note. Their affordability is one of the reasons the White House recently proposed in its 2010 budget to invest $12 billion in community colleges around the country over the next 10 years, as a way to boost the employment prospects of many people around the country as well as to make the United States once again the leader in percentage of college graduates by 2020.
Community college spokespeople may not be able to calculate precisely the effect of the current state of the economy on community college enrollment, but they say that enrollment is certainly rising rapidly. This year alone, CCBC is looking at a 21 percent increase in enrollment over last year. Not only are students getting their specified educational needs met, but a slow economy has many looking to community colleges for career changes and to gain the experience they need to better position themselves in the work force.
“We are exploding,” Carr said. “Community colleges … benefit from [a slow economy] because we’re lower cost. But at the same time, institutions that are comparable to us in size are not up like we are. We’re sort of bursting at the seams at the moment.”
POPULAR TRACKS
As for the popularity of particular programs, Carr said business training and degrees are a particular hit with veterans. She also noted that many students come from out of state to CCBC to attend aviation management courses, which applies directly to the experiences many in the Air Force would like to continue when they separate from the service. Aviation is quite popular at CSCC as well.
“Probably the most popular program with our veteran students is our aviation maintenance program,” CSCC’s Metz said. “The college actually has its own airport. We don’t do any flight training but there’s a fairly extensive program in the different aviation fields. One of the more unusual programs [where] we see a lot of veteran activities here is we have a sports and fitness management program that’s popular with our veterans. [Also] popular with our veterans are the hospitality programs—hotel/motel management [and] food service.”
In addition, schools note the popularity of allied health programs. As with aviation, these let students build on specific training received while in the military. About 43 percent of veterans and military personnel want to go into the health care field, according to Defense Department figures cited by NOVA’s Foley, and community colleges across the country are working hard to accommodate them.
At NOVA’s Medical Education Campus, two-year health care degrees include dental hygiene, emergency medication services technician, health information management, medical laboratory technology and nursing programs. Certificate and pre-employment programs at NOVA include nursing assistant, medical office assistant, dental X-ray, pharmacy technician, medical billing and coding, and medical office specialist, among many others.
“One of the great career fields in demand for wounded warriors is health information management,” according to Foley, who said that nearly 60 percent of all nurses in the work force today have degrees or certifications from community colleges. “We have many new career fields being developed … for veterans—and their spouses. Basically, if you want to take care of veterans and spouses, we need to have alignment; you have to have a synergy between DoD, the federal government and educational institutions, because people don’t know what’s out there.”
Community colleges also seek to develop and refine their coursework and programs based on input from and collaboration with the military. NOVA collaborated with the Navy, for example, to develop a concentration within health care administration. Foley noted the parallels for military personnel that can lead to civilian careers, and NOVA offers support, degree and certification programs to accommodate these veterans’ needs. Right now, for example, Foley said that in the homeland security realm, about 80 percent of firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency medical technicians get their credentials through community colleges. In addition, offerings in construction technology are popular in the Washington, D.C., area, particularly with the abundance of projects emerging after the Base Realignment and Closure process in the mid-2000s.
HELPING VETS COPE
For community college students, success is not easy. According to Foley, the main reasons students fail to complete classes, certification or a variety of other programs is “life,” including work, family and school. Helping veterans effectively can start with work force development to get the students into the programs and work from there. Alignment between credit and the work force is crucial. “We feel that the community college has the ability to be a force multiplier,” Foley said. “Basically, community colleges have the ability to align the high schools, community institutions and bring all these stakeholders together to help the veterans.”
But it’s not just with degree programs. Work force development is a crucial component of NOVA’s offerings, particularly for veterans and their families looking for new careers. Through DoD’s Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts (MyCAA), for example, financial assistance is provided for spouses to assist in post-secondary education and training. Coupled with the needs and opportunities of military families, this is often a ticket to a new career path in a variety of areas. “When we talk about boots on the ground—homeland security and defense—we’re talking about community college graduates,” Foley said. “If you think about it, there are two hidden professions within biomedical security no one thinks about. One is the medical laboratory.”
In the event of a pandemic or medical disaster, treatment will not be centered at the Centers for Disease Control, he said. It’s going to be at community hospitals. And the technicians who will contribute to these emergency efforts will likely come directly from the community college system. With the other big health care profession—health information management—community college students also will likely be the primary contributors in the event of a disease or pandemic outbreak, serving as the backbone of any emergency effort in the near future.
Whatever the field of study, though, community colleges continue to grow, recognizing the needs and wants of individuals in their communities, including military personnel, who have the desire and experience but also need the flexibility that community colleges can provide to balance all aspects of career and family. The challenge remains for schools to get that message out to military personnel who look to enter the work force but want the training and education necessary to succeed. And the often hidden option is a community college experience. ♦