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The Community College Impact

Consumers of higher education, like other consumers, look for value. Community college students want to learn things that will have a positive effect on their lives. They want college to be nearby, with convenient class schedules and low cost. Legislators want measurement of effectiveness. Employers want workers with analytical and technical skills. Taxpayers want to make sure their money is well spent.

The breadth of programming and the variety of students' goals make it difficult to accurately quantify community college performance. Unlike four-year colleges, where attainment of a bachelor's degree is the implicit goal of students, community college students do not share a common goal beyond self-improvement. 

Community colleges offer a variety of credit and noncredit programs in occupations that the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts will be in demand early into the next decade.

AACC periodically surveys colleges about hot programs (PDF, 13 KB) from which graduates are hired before or immediately after graduation and include nursing, computer technology, auto technology and law enforcement. According to a 1997 survey, hot program graduates earned an average starting salary of $25,500, about 15 percent more than the hot program starting salaries reported in 1994. At the top of the list is dental hygiene, with an average starting salary of $29,560 in 1997. More recent data on hot programs show that the average starting salary for dental hygiene is $31,750. 

Research shows that education pays. Students who complete associate degrees and certificates are more likely to move into higher-status management and professional positions with higher earnings. An investment of a few thousand dollars now will likely pay lifelong dividends, as students who earn associate degrees average lifetime earnings of $250,000 more than people without degrees.

Although the statistics about the economic benefits to individuals are encouraging, the issue of what society gains from supporting higher education continues to fuel many legislative budget debates. Victor Ukpolo and Thomas F. Dernburg, working for the Tennessee Board of Regents, tackled this nagging question and came to the conclusion that higher education yields significant returns to students, to the state and to society. 

Ukpolo and Dernburg reported their findings in the "Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives." Using 1993 as the base year, they wrote that for every dollar Tennessee invests in higher education, society can expect an average real return of $9.30. The cost-benefit ratio to society for a two-year associate degree is even higher at $10.52. Their analysis found that the state recovers its subsidy of higher education in sales taxes alone. This happens as more highly educated people earn more money and increase their spending, which yields more in sales taxes.

But success at community colleges must be broadly defined to include not just those who attain associate degrees – more than 450,000 in 1996-97 – and those who earn certificates – nearly 170,000 in 1996-97 – but also the millions who take noncredit and workforce training classes.

Although the definitive measure of educational quality and success evolves, community colleges allow students from all walks of life to work toward and attain the goals they have set.

Based on material from National Profile of Community Colleges: Trends & Statistics, Phillippe & Patton, 2000.

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