Caldwell College Community Institute Technical

Admin | December 24, 2011 | Comments Off

Caldwell College Community Institute Technical

Caldwell College Community Institute Technical

Community colleges are two-year post-secondary institutions. Early on, many of these institutions were once known as junior colleges, but nearly all have changed their identity to that of a community college. Community colleges offer a wide assortment of programs ranging from non-credit classes to associate degrees designed to transfer and Career and Technical Education (CTE) degrees to numerous non-credit classes. The curricula at some two-year “technical colleges” focus primarily on CTE degrees and certificates. The names of these institutions vary as do the educational services each provide, but today there are more than 1,600 of these institutions in the United States, and they provide a wide array of educational services to millions of students each year.

A Brief History of Community Colleges

The first public two-year college, Joliet Junior College (JJC), was founded in 1901 by J. Stanley Brown, superintendent of Joliet Township High School and William Rainey Harper, president of the University of Chicago. Students took their first two years of coursework at this junior colleges and then transferred to a senior college (a.k.a. university) to complete their baccalaureate degree.

For the first half of the 20th century, the term "community college" was used to describe some of the new two-year colleges that were founded across the United States (Ayers, 2010). In 1947, the Truman Commission’s report, Higher Education for American Democracy, endorsed the concept of a national system of two-year colleges, and the term became more universally accepted. Over time, most junior colleges changed their name, dropping the word “junior,” but JCC has remained true to its roots.

During the second half of the 20th century, hundreds of community colleges sprung up across the nation, 497 in the 60’s alone (Ayers, 2010). Unlike universities, community colleges were assigned districts, from which they drew there enrollments. Quite commonly, business and community leaders urged their community colleges to focus on CTE programs, but institutions offering transfer degrees continued to do so. Furthermore, many of these colleges began expanding their range of programs and services to serve the needs of the community.

The Modern Day Community College System

The United States Department of Education website summarizes data from a 1999-2000 study of community colleges. Some of the more interesting facts are provided below.

  • There were 1,655 community colleges, of which 1,047 were public institutions and 415 private.
  • Sixty-two percent of public community colleges had an open enrollment policy, compared to 7.5 percent of public 4-year colleges.
  • There were 5,590,000 students enrolled at community colleges, which constituted 47 percent of all public college enrollments.
  • These enrollments were comprised of 2.3 million men and 3.2 million women.
  • Twenty-three percent of those who enrolled in a community college during the 1989-1990 academic year transferred to a 4-year institution, 38 percent of them having completed an associate degree.
  • In order of popularity, the majority of degrees were awarded in: 1) liberal arts and sciences; 2) general studies; 3) business management and administrative services; 4) Health professions and related fields; 5) Engineering related technologies; and 6) Computer and information sciences.

A more recent estimate placed the number of community college enrollments at nearly seven million, or 43 percent of all college and university undergraduates (McKay, 2010). Data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicated that 90 percent of Americans live within twenty-five miles of a community college (Ayers, 2010). And these institutions serve students from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Fifty-two percent of American Indians, 45 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, and 42 percent of black undergraduates attend a community college (Ayers, 2010).