My Vision for Our Community Colleges

By Dave Mandelkern

My 10 Point Plan for ensuring that our Community Colleges will continue to serve the needs of our community.

Providing opportunities for quality education is one of the most important responsibilities of our government. In particular, the San Mateo County Community College District is a vital link between our locally run K-12 school systems, and our state-run four-year colleges and universities. In these economically and technologically challenging times, education is vital to creating a prosperous future, both for individuals and for society at large. Providing open, affordable, equal access for all to high quality educational opportunities is the key to enabling pursuit of the American Dream. I have a 10 Point Plan for ensuring that our Community Colleges will continue to serve this vital role in creating our future.

My first five points address the roles our local colleges should serve in our community:

1. High school student enrichment. Community Colleges can provide additional resources for high schools that are stretched thin, supplementing advanced placement courses, performing arts, and other options for advanced students. A formal partnership and outreach program should be created between every high school in the district and one of the district colleges.

2. Path to a four-year college. This traditional "stepping stone" role is even more important given the fee increases and resource limitations at our state-run colleges and universities. We need to build on our existing successful partnership programs to highlight the positive values of Community Colleges as a path to an advanced degree.

3. Provide AA degrees with meaningful job skills. A high school degree alone is no longer adequate preparation for many of the high tech, high skill jobs available in our community today. In order to prepare our students to earn a livable wage, we need to partner with local industries and local trade unions that offer employment opportunities (such as nursing, healthcare, automotive, telecom, and biotech) to make sure that students graduate with the skills necessary to land good jobs.

4. Non-degree certification and job skills retraining. Working adults need opportunities to improve their skills to keep their current job or find a new one, often in a different industry. Community Colleges offer the ideal venue to provide skill enhancement and certification, especially in partnership with local employers and unions who can identify areas of need.

5. Adult education and enrichment. Whether it is to pursue a love of literature, or learn a new language, our Community Colleges provide a valuable resource for ongoing educational opportunity within our community.

The last five points address how we can maintain the financial viability of our Community College system in this time of budget crisis:

6. Smart enrollment management/optimization. It's not just about how many students we can enroll; it's about recruiting the right mix of students to the right combination of classes to make sure that we are using our limited resources in the most beneficial way possible.

7. Selective or differential fee increases to maintain affordability. Increased fees may be a reality of the new state budget, but we need to make sure that basic opportunities are still affordable to all. Some courses will command a higher tuition value than others, and we should use the extra income to offset the recent across-the-board tuition increases. We should introduce flexibility into the tuition system to maintain affordability while meeting our revenue obligations.

8. Develop alternative sources of funding. We should continue to aggressively promote and expand programs such as the San Mateo County Community College Foundation, Employer/College Partnerships, Loan Pools, etc. to increase the availability of scholarship funds and college funding to make sure that our Colleges are both affordable and economically viable. Some programs, such as student/staff daycare or library services, might be expanded to serve broader audiences in order to generate additional revenue that will help cover their costs.

9. Cost reduction through shared governance. In addition to revenue enhancement, we need to keep a close eye on the expense side of the ledger as well. This is best done by having all of the affected constituencies (administration, faculty, staff, students, and the community) involved in finding opportunities for cost savings.

10. Spend bond measure money wisely. We are fortunate to have recently passed a bond measure for our Community Colleges. We need to invest those funds wisely in maintaining and improving the physical infrastructure, especially in ways that can help lower our overhead costs so that we can continue to offer the highest quality education to the most students possible.

Thank you,

Dave Mandelkern