By David Leebron
Education, from pre-K through graduate and professional schools, serves the dual goals of truly opening opportunity to all and creating the workforce that will grow our advanced economy.
Community colleges are playing an increasingly important role for the state in achieving these goals. Located in every corner of our state, these two-year institutions meet Texans where they are, equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in their lives.
Just look at the numbers: Texas is home to 50 community college districts attended by 678,000 students — more undergraduates than our four year colleges educate each year. About 130,000 degrees were conferred by Texas community colleges in 2023. And these colleges are as diverse as our state, from small rural communities to great urban centers, and increasingly are playing a role in secondary schools as well, enabling students to earn advanced credentials.
And they deliver all this at a cost to the student each year that is about a quarter of what it costs to attend a public four-year college.
Community colleges reflect the core American belief that everyone, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to learn, to succeed and to excel. They also help assure both our current businesses and the ones we hope to attract to our state access to the skilled workers they need.
Our legislators had this in mind last year when they made a historic $683 million investment in community colleges and helped make community college more affordable and accessible to more Texas students.
Just as community colleges were transformed by the GI Bill after World War II, we now can make Texas a national example of what community colleges can achieve.
One of the things we’re looking forward to in next year’s legislative session is ensuring the reforms of last year are fully funded and keeping up with student demand and outcomes.
We’re also working to ensure that the definition of “credential of value,” on which so much of our work last year was centered, is truly meaningful. We believe students should graduate able to secure jobs that pay family-sustaining wages.
We’re additionally interested in how community colleges can help modernize our high schools. We’re deepening our commitment to dual credit coursework to help students earn career-aligned credentials of value in a high school setting. Finally, we’re looking at ways to take advantage of the overlap between 2019’s public school finance legislation and 2023’s community college finance legislation to make this possible.
We are entering a long overdue time of recognition for the role community colleges play in our state. This past week I had the privilege of speaking to the annual meeting of the Texas Association of Community Colleges. The commitment and enthusiasm were palpable, and the quality of the leadership at so many of our community colleges is extraordinary.
To learn more about our work to transform our state’s community colleges, click here.
We are at a transformative moment for our community colleges, and we must not let the moment pass us by. Let’s seize on the efforts already begun by working together to assure that our community colleges get the support they need as they successfully enhance, extend and carry out their vital mission.
David Leebron is Texas 2036 president and CEO and former president of Rice University.
