Any mass community college folks here?

[hester]

Hello All,

 I'm wondering if there are any mass community college folks here.

 There are a few new programs making community college close to free.

 Initially, there was a 15-20 pct increase attributed to these programs.

  I'm seeing and hearing the numbers are falling as many of these students have dropped or not returning in the spring.

 Hoping to hear from others about their observations.

Thank you

[ciao_yall]

Hello All,

 I'm wondering if there are any mass community college folks here.

 There are a few new programs making community college close to free.

 Initially, there was a 15-20 pct increase attributed to these programs.

  I'm seeing and hearing the numbers are falling as many of these students have dropped or not returning in the spring.

 Hoping to hear from others about their observations.

Thank you

At my CC when we rolled it out, most of the interest was community members taking Spanish, art, etc for personal interest.

Free tuition is nice, but you still have to take unpaid time off from work, buy books, maybe hire a babysitter.

So if the goal is to increase enrollment from low-income community members make sure you are prepared to have a conversation about generous  social and financial support.

[apl68]

Hello All,

 I'm wondering if there are any mass community college folks here.

 There are a few new programs making community college close to free.

 Initially, there was a 15-20 pct increase attributed to these programs.

  I'm seeing and hearing the numbers are falling as many of these students have dropped or not returning in the spring.

 Hoping to hear from others about their observations.

Thank you

At my CC when we rolled it out, most of the interest was community members taking Spanish, art, etc for personal interest.

Free tuition is nice, but you still have to take unpaid time off from work, buy books, maybe hire a babysitter.

So if the goal is to increase enrollment from low-income community members make sure you are prepared to have a conversation about generous  social and financial support.

Well, it's great that some people are able to take advantage of this to do some learning just for the sake of curiosity.  That's a good thing, and worth providing to a community.  It's not the kind of workforce development the legislators would have had in mind, though, when they agreed to it.  Those who want to take advantage of it, need to do so while they can.

[hester]

The free college thing will have limited benefits i.e more educated workforce. However, the strain it's putting on the college is unreal.

https://www.masslive.com/news/2024/12/teaching-at-community-colleges-is-getting-tougher-why-do-employees-stay.html

I made the mistake of giving a student my cell phone. Advisor contacted me with sob story. So I emailed and suggested student reach out to get them back on track.

 As I'm writing this, I'm receiving texts about needing help with bus fare. Buses are free for low income folks here. Student has been to class 1x this semester and wants to either Livestream class or give them names of other classmates to play catch up.

 I've put student in touch with social services. However, they are less than enthused to do their jobs.

 I messed up with the phone #. I was getting texts over the holiday break trying to make small talk.

 This population in need of social support has changed face of CC.

  The article about states the same thing.

  There should not be barriers to education. However, free higher ed needs to have some boundaries.

 Thank you for letting me vent!