Community colleges are essential to meet state educational attainment goals, yet the colleges are largely underfunded to serve underprepared students entering through the open door of access. As resource-dependent institutions, community colleges need to engage in the politics of higher education through advocacy. This chapter presents results…

In 1988, California lawmakers enacted legislation designed to increase the ratio of full-to part-time faculty in community colleges. Twenty years later, college leaders in this study report the legislation has had little success in increasing the number of full-time faculty due, in part, to confusion regarding the intent of the legislation and the…

Lynette Brown-Snow, vice president of marketing and government relations for the Community College of Philadelphia, is one of several community college leaders across the country who have taken up one of the challenges proffered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in its 2012 report, "Reclaiming the American Dream:…

This article reports that education will be on the ballot November 4, even if the subject hasn't been on voters' minds much during the 2008 campaign season. The results of the elections are likely to have a significant impact on the way schools are financed, governed, and held accountable for the academic performance of their students. At the…

In the mid-1990s, distance education seemed to hold the future for rural community colleges. As distance education has moved to Internet-based technologies, concern has been raised about the digital divide and its impact on distance education. This article describes the status of technology-based distance education offered by rural community…