I read a little item from the Spartan Newsroom yesterday regarding vocational education at community colleges and its role in improving employability. Without intending to, the opening line of the article was the most remarkable part of the piece. It said:
“Community colleges across Michigan are offering skills-focused education to help students in rural areas find employment in the state and elsewhere.”
It’s an interesting statement. Why would a community college prepare people to find employment elsewhere? Isn’t the purpose of a community college to educate people so they can work in the communities they live in? It also made me wonder how many of Michigan’s community colleges are training people to work elsewhere.
The median household income in Washtenaw County is about $85,000. Washtenaw County residents invest a lot in Washtenaw Community College each year. This year (2024), we sent more than $76M in property taxes to WCC. The average WCC student makes less than $40,000 ten years after first enrollment.
So, despite our extensive investment in WCC, as a community, we don’t get a big return. Most who start at WCC don’t graduate from WCC, and those who do, don’t make enough to live in Washtenaw County. If community colleges are going to survive, this can’t continue to happen. A community college education shouldn’t be a one-way ticket to elsewhere.
Community colleges lack competitive strategy
Community colleges haven’t maintained the earning potential of their programs over time. Failing to increase the income potential of each program as the cost of living increases reduces the attractiveness of a community college education. When people with a community college education can’t make enough money to pay for the basics – like housing, transportation, food, medical care – they do one of two things: they either pursue a bachelor’s degree or they go someplace with a lower cost of living.
Believe it or not, Michigan is in the bottom third of all states in terms of its cost of living. (Wyoming has a higher cost of living than Michigan does.) And when people from Michigan pack up and move to Texas, it isn’t because Texas is less expensive. Rather, it’s because Texas (and other states) offer better opportunities.
If Michigan’s community colleges focused on increasing the income potentials of their degree programs, they could compete more effectively with both four-year universities and private, for-profit schools. These institutions routinely drain students away from community colleges with the promise of higher paying jobs.
It really is all about the outcomes. If community colleges offered their students better outcomes, they wouldn’t be training people for employment elsewhere.
Photo Credit: Larry Lamsa, via Flickr
