Community Colleges' Plan to Compete with Career College....

According to the CHE, in the wake of double digit unemployment, there is a push being made to renew the Workforce Investment Act that would authorize

billions of dollars for education and job-training programs, including at community colleges.

Apparently, here is what the community colleges idea entails:

Another key issue in debate over the act's reauthorization is the role community colleges will play. For the most part, they have not served as the primary providers of the education and training programs financed by the Workforce Investment Act. The grants regulated by the law have been used more often to help people find jobs than to train them for new types of employment.

Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr., a Pennsylvania Democrat, heaped praised on community colleges, an indication that he may be inclined to give them a stronger role in a new Workforce Investment Act. He called two-year colleges the most "underappreciated and underserved sector of higher education."

Robert G. Templin, Jr., president of Northern Virginia Community College, urged lawmakers to make community colleges the "hub of work-force development" rather than just another training center.

He said current training providers, such as proprietary schools, unions, and community-based job training centers, work in isolation and therefore tend to provide only entry-level training skills that do not result in a "portable and market-valued credential." He said community colleges are adept at moving low-skill workers into higher-paying careers by developing and offering high-demand occupational programs and working directly with businesses to help train their workers.

Essentially, what this boils down to is the community colleges are looking for more handouts from the government. They are losing ground to the career colleges in terms of providing in-demand educational training programs and providing services that help students complete their programs and find jobs. The community colleges are confused about their role in the educational community and this has contributed to their ineffectiveness. They don't know whether they are vocational training grounds, adult learning communities, a gateway to 4-year degree or a place for the unemployed to hang out and collect some financial aid overage until a job opening comes along.

The career colleges are doing better because they respond to market incentives and have specialized in offer the types of programs that employers need. The community colleges plan to compete is simple....beg for more handouts so that their tuition looks cheap compared to career colleges. I've got news for you folks, it is not about cheap tuition, it is about the value of the education and training provided.