Job cuts at community colleges accounted for nearly two-thirds of all job losses in higher education between FY 2019 and FY 2022. During that period, community colleges eliminated about 50,000 part-time and 17,000 full-time positions. While administrators attribute the job losses to COVID-19 and declines in enrollment, they are less clear about why enrollment is declining.
Many administrators point to the so-called “enrollment cliff,” driven by persistent declines in the number of college-age individuals. However, community colleges serve students of all ages. Theoretically, community colleges should be protected against losses in enrollment in a way that traditional four-year universities are not.
Universities rely heavily on students between the ages of 18-22 to drive their undergraduate enrollment. Pronounced shifts in this demographic should reduce the number of students who are seeking a four-year degree. University enrollment has dropped, but not at the rate community college enrollment has.
The value of a four-year degree has limited enrollment declines at universities, despite declines in the number of college-age students on campus. At the same time, the value of a two-year degree has driven sharp declines in community college enrollment despite community colleges having a much broader demographic target.
Additionally, fewer community college administrations have taken on the task of revising academic programs to better meet the needs of the workforce and the goals of local and regional economic development. Failure to modernize course and program offerings on a large scale has contributed to the erosion of the earning potential of a two-year degree.
Some states have permitted community colleges to offer four-year degrees in certain fields, but this doesn’t address the basic problem of value. Lack of space in four-year degree programs is not the issue, so creating more four-year, degree-granting institutions is not going to solve the “enrollment cliff.”
Community colleges put themselves at serious disadvantage
The associate degree’s lack of value and the failure to offer high-wage programs combine with another factor to create a serious disadvantage for community colleges. According to the Commonfund Institute, an analytics firm that specializes in higher education, salaries for community college instructors increased by just 0.1% in FY 2022 after accounting for inflation. Wage stagnation among community college instructors is making it very difficult for them to remain at a two-year school. While some community college instructors migrate to four-year institutions, many of them return to industry as highly experienced workers, where the market demand controls their wages and benefits.
Retirements account for another significant source of loss among community college faculty. Overall, the number of community college instructors dropped by nearly 9% between FY 2019 and FY 2022.
The loss of instructors to private industry, four-year institutions and retirement reflects a loss in the capacity of a community college that will be difficult to recover from. Highly qualified instructors don’t want to work in positions where inflation nearly completely neutralizes annual salary increases any more than students want to complete academic programs that prepare them to fill jobs that cannot generate a living-wage.
Community college administrators do not seem to know or care that they have a role in modernizing course offerings and creating, maintaining, or upgrading the classrooms and facilities needed to deliver update instruction and programming.
For what it’s worth, according to the Commonfund Institute, administrative salaries at community colleges increased an average of nearly 3% in FY 2022 after accounting for inflation.
Photo Credit: Drew Maust , via Flickr
