Yesterday, I wrote about the wealth gap and why it explains the lack of value in a community college degree. Young adults are not only aware of the value of money, but they are also aware of the value of political action. A new University of Chicago Institute of Politics survey of 2,000 young adults between the ages of 18 and 40 found that the issues of greatest importance to respondents were income inequality and economic growth.
Fully one-quarter of all respondents cited economic conditions as the biggest problem facing the country, reflecting their concerns about paying for college or buying homes. Immigration, gun control, climate change, and LGBTQ rights all polled at or below 10% as top concerns among respondents.
The poll’s other important finding was that respondents were closely following politics in this election year. Seventy percent of respondents said they definitely plan to vote or will probably vote. Only twelve percent of respondents said they had no plan to go to the polls in November.
To recap, young adults are worried about the economy and their ability to pay for college degrees and homes. They’re not happy, and 7 out of 10 of them are likely to make their way to the polls on Election Day.
If community colleges are serious about enticing these young adults into their classrooms, the best way to do that is by offering programs with high income potential. Emerging fields, like semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy, and artificial intelligence have high income potential. More traditional fields, like agriculture, skilled trades and manufacturing also offer high income opportunities.
Community college focus should be on students’ needs
Community colleges need to start designing academic programs that meet the educational and career goals of their students and worry less about delivering short-course training programs for employers whose ultimate goals involve filling subsistence-wage jobs.
Employers who aim to create “pipelines” of workers typically need to do so because the employee turnover in their business is high. All the short-term training in the world cannot solve turnover problems caused by chronically low wages or poor working conditions.
Community colleges that want to continue serving the short-term training needs of area employers should evaluate training requests in terms of the wages the employer expects to pay for those who complete the program successfully, the working conditions, and the employer’s turnover rates. There’s no sense in creating additional ALICE households, since we already have too many of those.
If community colleges improved the income potential of their degree programs to exceed subsistence wages, no one would be talking about enrollment declines, nor would we need “promise” and “reconnect” programs.
The market is using plain language to tell community colleges something, but for some reason, community college executives just aren’t listening.
Photo Credit: Elf Sternberg, via Flickr
