The headline in the Bellingham Herald, "Bad economy has been a boon for 2-year colleges," is a little misleading. Yes, the presidents of Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Technical College report growth in enrollments of more than 8 percent. According to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges;
Much of the growth has been attributed to the troubled economy.
Historically, during economic downturns, college enrollments go up as students turn to community and technical colleges for training and retraining to compete for limited job openings. The system is hoping the Legislature will find ways to fund CTCs so they can keep serving more students.
However, this growth is nearly unprecedented:
“We haven’t seen enrollment growth like this since the 1970s,” said Loretta Seppanen, director of research and analysis for the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). “And the growth is in all areas—recent high school graduates, transfer students, worker retraining, basic skills, professional technical, working adults—it really speaks to the diversity of CTCs.”
Here is the part that the Herald's headline did not address: because of the state's $5.8 or $6.2 billion deficit, community colleges are having to find millions of dollars in their budgets to cut in order to fill the hole. I am sure that there are some soft spots in some colleges' budgets and at a time like this, everyone should have to put a little skin in the game. But it is important to remember a key function of community and technical colleges: worker retraining.
Unfortunately, the people who are enrolling in community and technical college classes now are doing so to learn new skills or upgrade their current skills. These are the people that will help make our companies more competitive and help lead us out of the current recession. Sadly, they are also the most at risk for not being able to find slots at these schools due to the budget cuts. Hopefully, lawmakers will make accommodations for this segment of the CTC population during budget discussions.
