Putting The Community In College
Few industries have shown the ability to expand in spite of the recession, but one industry, and one local institution in particular, provides perhaps the brightest glimmer of hope for the state’s economic future.
Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester enrolled 8,025 students for its fall semester, a 17 percent increase over the fall 2008 semester. In the fall of 2007, QCC enrolled fewer than 3,000 students. The college says that growth and the likelihood that the trend will continue have prompted it to look for opportunities to expand.
In addition to its main campus in Worcester’s north end, QCC already has a new satellite campus in Southbridge where nearly 800 students are enrolled. It says it is looking into opportunities for satellites in Blackstone and Marlborough, as well as expanding its presence in downtown Worcester.
In a way, this is a sign of the times. QCC itself says that a notable portion of new students are adults seeking further education in the face of unemployment and an excruciatingly tight job market. But it also bodes well for the future of Central Massachusetts.
Success begets success, and the more students that enroll and succeed at QCC and the region’s other community colleges, the more high school students will think of pursuing their post-secondary education there rather than not starting college at all.
New Beginnings
The next high-tech or manufacturing entrepreneur is just as likely to be an average student sitting in class in a public high school in Worcester, or Southbridge or Blackstone, as he is to be an overachiever at one of the region’s more exclusive private schools. For some, The College of the Holy Cross, Clark University or Assumption College are simply out of reach.
These students will be working their way through school. Community colleges offer the affordability and flexibility these students need. Increasingly, they also offer high-quality programs, often online, that prepare students well for jobs in the state’s emerging fields, such as green technology, biotechnology and life sciences.
For example, Mount Wachusett Community College has a biotechnology program aimed at training students for manufacturing jobs in that demanding industry growing along the Route 2 corridor.
Community colleges have also begun establishing green technology programs. Clearly, they have recognized an important emerging industry’s need for skilled employees.
Energy efficiency firms grew by 40 percent last year and are predicted to grow about 50 percent again this year. Between 2007 and 2008, employment in the solar industry in Massachusetts doubled. And while the number of people employed by that sector is still only about 2,000 here, it’s an exciting start. A fair start is all many community college students are looking for, as well.
Not only are students prepared for employment by programs like these, but upon graduation from QCC or any of Central Massachusetts’ other community colleges, perhaps Holy Cross or even UMass Medical School are no longer out of reach.
In that way, QCC and other community colleges represent American bootstrap entrepreneurialism and determination. The fact that they can claim growing enrollment of a magnitude that requires physical expansion into new areas of the state speaks to community colleges’ ability to lead the region into better economic times.
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