As someone who works for two different community colleges in two different states (Virginia and North Carolina), I was pleased to see the mention of a pro-community college blog entry on "Gate City," a local Greensboro, NC, blog.
The Sept. 12 entry was made in reference to an editorial in the Greensboro newspaper, "The News-Record," by David Hoggard.
Hoggard's son attends Guilford Technical Community College ( GTCC), which has campuses in Greensboro, High Point and Jamestown. He said that attending classes at GTCC has been a great experience for his son. The blog entry added that local residents should not view community college education as a last resort.
According to the Gate City blog, Hoggard said his son will able to transfer to state school (ie. North Carolina State University) while only spending $5,000 in classes for the preliminary part of his education.
The Gate City blog added that with educational debts being a major concern, perhaps more parents should consider community college education as a viable alternative to the more expensice four-year schools.
While the entry talked about North Carolina in particular, I think people in other parts of the country are undoubtedly contemplating community college education for valid reasons such as the ones cited by Hoggard.
Alas, Virginia recently saw devastating cuts in community college funding. The school I work for lost over $500,000 in funding at a time when the number of students taking classes there is on the rise. But, the crisis is also going to felt at four-year state schools in Virginia, such as my own alma mater Radford University.
But, with parents like Hoggard vouching for the community college experience, perhaps both teachers and students can look forward to the proverbial brighter tomorrow.
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