COMMUNITY COLLEGES HELP HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS
As a new academic year begins, our local community colleges find themselves playing an important role in creating economic opportunities for San Diego students and their families. With many struggling to adjust to changes created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Diego Community College District’s four community colleges — San Diego City, Mesa and Miramar colleges, and the San Diego College of Continuing Education — are going beyond their traditional mission to assist our 100,000 students. Already the region’s largest provider of workforce training and education, our district’s colleges also provide for students’ basic needs, including free food and clothing, bus passes, laptops and emergency funds. As important, they offer students a sense of belonging while developing skills to pursue their degrees or careers.
The disruptions to our colleges as a result of the pandemic motivated urgency for change. With declining enrollment and a new demand for more online classes, it was essential to assess how we could better serve our students — including many who had to choose between their education or supporting their family.
To do so, we looked to infuse equity into every goal to provide safe places where every individual, regardless of their socioeconomic background, immigration status, gender identity, race, ethnicity or age, has access to quality education or career training.
Attending classes instead of working full-time can feel like a loss of income for prospective students; however, the time they invest in their education can result in far better salaries in the long term.
According to the San Diego Workforce Partnership, there are 72 priority job sectors in San Diego County that pay at least 90 percent of workers $16 an hour or more, provide at least 63 openings each per year, and are projected to grow by at least 6.5 percent annually.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasted that associate degree jobs will grow by 11 percent from 2016 to 2026 — faster than the 7 percent average projected for all occupations — while bachelor’s degree jobs will grow by 10 percent.
The district’s three credit colleges offer the best value in higher education at $46 per unit. San Diego College of Continuing Education provides free job training programs in more than 80 fields plus no-cost classes in citizenship, English and for those seeking a high school GED diploma. Increasingly, students are finding that our colleges are not only the affordable choice, but also that they offer a community waiting to support them.
Research shows that minority and firstgeneration students have a greater sense of belonging at a two-year college when compared with a four-year university. That sense of belonging on our campuses is a result of our intentional efforts to provide support services that meet students where they are.
One of the many ways that San Diego Mesa College is helping students succeed is through Mesa Journeys, an aspect of the college’s Mesa 2030 plan, which provides students with a customized list of on-campus academic and support resources. For example, a student majoring in chemistry would be connected to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Center, where they can access specialized tutors, peer mentors, counselors and volunteer opportunities that lead to jobs with high paying wages.
Other Mesa College students are finding their community inside the Umoja-Mesa Academy Program (UMAP), a program designed to increase the graduation, retention and transfer rates of Black students, or inside the Borderless Scholars’ program for undocumented students, or at the Veterans Success Center for military-connected students.
At the College of Continuing Education, immigrants, refugees and English learners benefit from the Immigrant-Based Support Program, an on-campus community that offers referrals to free health and legal assistance, a bilingual WhatsApp group chat where students share resources with one another from job announcements to free food distribution locations, peer-to-peer tutoring and scholarships.
Additionally, the College of Continuing Education offers PATHWAYS, a retention model program for homeless students that provides intensive support services, case management, and job training opportunities.
Far from being buzzwords, diversity, equity, access and inclusion drive every decision at our colleges.
Equity is one of the reasons the district has dropped its vaccination requirement for students for the fall semester, which begins Aug. 22 for the credit colleges and Sept. 6 for Continuing Education. Vaccination requirements have disproportionate impacts on students from lower-income students and traditionally underserved communities. Instead, the district will continue a vaccination requirement for employees and masking for everyone indoors to ensure health and safety.
We believe there are few better investments for our region, and especially our students, than what are offered at our local community colleges.