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There was a golden era, in the 1960s and 1970s, when beaming lawmakers smiled on community colleges. Public funds flowed like a river that nourished the nation’s two-year institutions. Enrollments grew and everyone was happy, naturally.
But that was then. Over the past few decades, public funds have dried up, and formerly munificent politicians are now beleaguered by hordes of constituents seeking financial support. Legislators charged with fiduciary oversight of municipal and state budgets increasingly demand that recipients of public money demonstrate return on investment.
Amid greater scarcity and scrutiny, community college leaders have had to become better advocates for their institutions. Presidents and other leaders are expected to get buy-in from colleagues on campus and to build infrastructures for projecting influence in multiple spheres; they have to convene allies and build coalitions; they’re coming up with ever more complex advocacy strategies and they have to show measurable results.
“The old model was as long as enrollment was going up, we would get more money from the state,” says Noah Brown, president of the Association of Community College Trustees. “Over the long haul, say 20 or 30 years, state support as a percentage of our [community college] budgets has been declining. We are doing less well as a sector in capturing a percentage of public support. I don’t think that is going to turn around. Most of the people I know are not predicting that we will see a groundswell of public support like we saw in the ’60s and ’70s.
“Everybody is fighting harder for a smaller share of support,” Brown continues. “The more we can communicate to policymakers the return on investment, the better off we’ll be. We used to tell nice anecdotes about single moms saved by the community college. Now you need real data.”
