Community colleges changing course as students, needs shift
After high school, Melissa Pederson yearned for a traditional college experience. So she moved into campus housing with roommates from around the world and immersed herself in her wooded, secluded school.
Yet Pederson's move was far from typical: She was among the first students in King County to live on a community-college campus. Now finishing her sophomore studies at Green River Community College in Auburn, Wash., Pederson, 20, is one of a growing number of students taking advantage of shifts in the mission and approach of two-year colleges.
Around the country, community colleges are trying to adapt to increasing demand from young students and, in some cases, are beginning to resemble university campuses. Many community colleges are attempting to provide a broader approach to learning, even in specialty trades. That's because today's workers are expected to be more flexible and will likely change jobs and responsibilities more often.
Yet distinguishing among two-year colleges can still prove challenging.As of last week, Green River had just four vacancies among the 340 beds available at the Campus Corner Apartments, where Pederson and other students share furnished four-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouses. Rooms and utilities typically cost students $560 a month. And students can lease by the academic year or quarter.
The housing boom is driven largely by community colleges' desire to accommodate international students and the higher tuition they bring. But the colleges have found there's also a demand from younger, local students.While community colleges have long attracted "nontraditional" older students, at Green River the median age of students is now just 22 - reflective of a national trend toward younger students.
"There's a bubble of traditional-age students who are coming in greater numbers," said Norma Kent, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based American Association of Community Colleges. "Partly it's the cheaper cost, and partly it's that so many of them can't be accommodated at traditional universities."
Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, Wash., has even set up a section on its Web site called "No Parent Left Behind" to explain the college-going process to concerned parents of younger students - sometimes dubbed "helicopter parents" for their hovering involvement.
Given population trends, Kent said, she doesn't necessarily expect the bubble of young students to last. But there's an increased push to educate professionals of all ages, she added. Think, for instance, of the service technician at your local garage.
"It's not your traditional grease monkey," Kent said. "It's someone who knows how to do a computational diagnosis of engines."
Kent has noticed a second bubble of students at the other end of the spectrum - in the 50-plus age range. She said baby boomers are more likely than previous generations to seek job retraining or to study for enjoyment.
This academic year marks another major change in this state. Four community colleges - including Bellevue and South Seattle - have launched a pilot program in which they offer limited four-year bachelor degrees - something that had been the exclusive turf of universities. And colleges are pursuing students young and old by offering classes in everything from winemaking to nanotechnology.
While most students across the state are limited by geography to the closest college, students in the Seattle area can choose from among a dozen community colleges within a roughly 30-mile radius.
Many of those colleges are attempting to carve out niche specialties - from dental hygiene to aviation. The state Board for Community and Technical Colleges is promoting specialization through a "Centers of Excellence" program that seeks, in part, to eliminate program duplication. The board in February plans to launch a one-stop Web site that will allow students to compare programs across all of the state's 34 two-year colleges.
Choosing among community colleges can present challenges, however. While national rankings such as those issued each year by U.S. News & World Report - along with a wealth of other information - can help students distinguish among universities, there are fewer established methods to choose among two-year colleges.
© 2007, The Seattle Times.
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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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