Proposed Funding (or Lack Thereof) of Community Colleges

At this point in the legislative session in Des Moines, I find myself disappointed with the proposed budget with respect to post secondary education. With a $60 million increase allocated for the three regent universities, the fifteen community colleges across the state are left to divy up a $5.5 million increase, an amount $11.4 million short of what the community colleges reportedly need. This threatens to leave the community colleges severely underfunded, and could result in double digit tuition hikes on people that can least afford them.

The national Skills2Compete campaign recently released a report entitled America’s Forgotten Middle Skill Jobs. This report indicates that middle skill jobs (jobs that require more education than a high school diploma, but less than a four year degree) make up half of all jobs (in the US) today. Iowa’s labor market is consistent with this finding.

Iowa employers are finding it increasingly difficult to find workers to fill good paying middle skill jobs, even when these jobs offer advancement opportunities. I’ve heard that same issue from a number of manufacturing company’s right here in Mason City. If the trend continues, the state is forecasting 150,000 surplus jobs by 2012.

The importance of community colleges appears to be lost at the federal level as well. Congress has recently authorized $42 billion to educate more engineers, scientists, and mathematicians with four year and advanced degrees. To be sure, these people are needed to keep us competitive in a global marketplace and to address our aging infrastructure. However, the work of these individuals should create many more middle skill jobs, so attention is needed in this area as well. Instead, training programs that prepare Iowans for such jobs have taken a $245 million cut in federal funding (nearly 8%).

Though all of this poses a problem, it also creates a significant opportunity. It is our community colleges that provide the necessary coursework to train the people needed to fill these jobs. The community colleges serve people that either cannot afford a traditional four year degree, or do not have the desire to pursue professions requiring a four year degree. It is imperative that we maintain funding mechanisms that make such educational opportunities affordable; our families are depending on us.

And consider this: 90% of community college graduates stay right here in Iowa. We need to attract new, younger people to Iowa to reverse our aging trend and population decline. It seems only logical to start this process by first retaining the good people we already have here!

Our recent universities are sitting on BILLIONS of dollars in endowments. Iowa’s community colleges have the 9th HIGHEST tuition rates in the country. Enrollment in high school careers programs is up, and community colleges are seeing record enrollments. We must end our decades old emphasis on preparing all high school students for college, and we must strengthen our community colleges to enable them to train the workforce that is needed now and in the foreseeable future. We must fund the community colleges at a level that avoids program cuts and tuition increases, even if it means cutting funding to the regent universities.

Scott Tornquist