It is generally accepted that the nation's community colleges are underfunded, especially given the job that society expects of them. Accordingly, practitioners and scholars have long argued for new revenue sources and funding models. This essay briefly explains one such alternative model, namely funding adequacy. This concept has a long history…

When Arthur Cohen launched "New Directions for Community Colleges" ("NDCC") in 1973, the focus was on sharing updates and practical advice for those leading and working in community colleges. At the time, scant attention was given to these institutions as most research centered on 4-year colleges and universities. The context…

Community colleges serve the largest percentage of under-represented, under-prepared, and under-resourced students yet they are often underfunded in state budgets. This article demonstrates challenges and opportunities for community college leaders in state and federal political advocacy from the perspective of a community college state system…

Community college boards of trustees are not highly visible, but they play a vital role in college and student success through governance and oversight of the mission of open access higher education. The stakes are high as community colleges compete for scarce resources in state budgets making the local and state-level trustee/governing role as…

This chapter illustrates the potential promise and complexities of free college initiatives from the perspective of administrators, faculty, staff, and students who are involved in a scholarship program at a small Midwestern community college. Based on two waves of interviews conducted in 2019 and 2021 respectively, we found that, while largely…

This article explores shared governance in advancing access, completion, and transfer. Shared governance is a critical vehicle for consultation and collective decision-making in higher education. It is the structure and process through which priorities are set and decisions are made in academic institutions. The demographic cliff facing higher…

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…

This chapter examines institutionally funded free community college programs that address specific community workforce needs. Within the article, the authors showcase "Rediscover LCCC," a foundation-funded scholarship program at Laramie County Community College in Wyoming that pays students' tuition and fees for up to three years in…

As statewide college promise programs continue to develop, emerging equity concerns necessitate interrogating whom programs benefit and how expense funds can be applied. Critical Policy Analysis (CPA) is used in this chapter to understand how statewide promise programs advance or hinder racial equity across eligibility and financial aid support…

This chapter reviews multiple variables across all public community colleges, and unveils marked disparities in public funding between and within the states at community colleges of different sizes and geographical settings.

This chapter aims to extend conversations around educational equity by emphasizing the role of community college contexts as a mediator between policy reform and student experience. Narratives of Tennessee (TN) Reconnect Grant recipients indicate that community college contexts related to advising and student support services and enrollment,…

This chapter summarizes funding trends to support career and technical education (CTE) and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs at community colleges compared to funding for similar programs at 4-year colleges and universities. Examples of intramural and extramural funding strategies as well as lessons learned and…

The term "community college business and finance model" is unlikely to evoke a positive response from educators who resist labeling students as "customers," do not want to call the college's offerings "products," and don't like to hear the college referred to as a "business." Faculty and staff tend…

Urban community colleges face a myriad of convergent challenges, including the loss of state funding and local property tax support, increased demands for better performance and greater accountability, and record-high enrollment by the most underprepared students in higher education. Sometimes to make sense of it all, it helps to think of an onion.

The topic of budgeting and financial resources often strikes fear in the hearts of community college administrators and faculty, as they believe it is an arcane and complex art understood only by accountants and financial specialists. This chapter attempts to demystify the basic concepts involved in budgeting and addresses approaches to budgeting,…