Community colleges, long the ignored stepchild of American higher education policymakers, are finally getting top-level attention in Washington.
That's the testimony of Dr. Eugenia Paulus of North Hennepin Community College, the only Minnesotan invited to participate with 100 other community college leaders in the Oct. 5 White House Summit on Community Colleges. She came away convinced that President Obama is personally engaged in efforts to increase the higher education attainment of Americans, and that he understands the important role community colleges should play in those efforts.
"We're affordable, accessible and adaptable," said Paulus, an award-winning chemistry faculty member at the Brooklyn Park school.
But the affordability of a community college education is under challenge in Minnesota, where tuition is the second-highest in the nation for schools of their type, and a state budget deficit clouds the future of higher education funding.
Paulus came home praising an innovative program for employees of the federal Department of Homeland Security that not only pays for community college tuition, but adapts work schedules and provides other assistance to make college study feasible. A number of Minnesota employers have long provided similar assistance. That number ought to grow. Incentives for employees to study at community colleges is a good way for this state's businesses to ensure that they will have the well-educated workers they will need in years to come. Businesses should also be sources of something else Paulus says community college students and faculty need -- mentors.
