


Learning From a College Mission to End Poverty
“We have one goal,” says Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas. “It is a simple goal. It defines everything about us, and our goal is this: we want to end poverty. Period. That’s it.” Sound far-fetched? Not to Sorrell. In fact, he came in...
The Melting Pot and Cost Benefit of Community College
My father was a first-generation college student. It helped that he had the GI Bill, having served four years in the Air Force. By 1969 he was enrolled in Corning Community College. Twenty years later, I would do the same. My father and I were both born in Corning,...
New Thinking to Combat Community College Enrollment Decline
Community college enrollment across the United States has been in steady decline since 2011. According to Inside Higher Ed’s 2017 Survey of College and University Admissions Directors, 84 percent of community college admissions directors said they had seen enrollment...
Free Community College: An Expanding Ideal
Maybe you’ve already heard the news: free community college tuition in Maryland. As The Baltimore Sun reported last year, Republican Governor Larry Hogan intended to sign a bill offering scholarships worth as much as $5,000 to low- and middle-income students. The...
College: It Has Never Been More Important … But Is It Affordable?
An article on the online news website, Insider Louisville, had some telling data about the status of families preparing financially for their kids’ college education — at least in and around Kentucky. (Capture Higher Ed is headquartered in Louisville.) Of course, no...
Two Great Tastes: The Value of Online Ed and Community Colleges
Do you know how long community colleges have been around? Since 1901, as this recent article in U.S. News & World Report reminds us. Traditionally, community colleges have served people like me — I graduated with an associate’s degree in applied science (A.S.)...