Community colleges are the forgotten link in higher education, despite enrolling 44 percent of the nation’s college students, many of them poor.
A new report out today shows that despite a growing enrollment of low-income and minority students, community colleges are getting less support from the federal government than they did a decade ago. The Century Foundation says that trend is creating a separate and unequal system that recalls the landmark Brown v Board of Education decision that bared the country’s worst-kept secret of discrimination.
In Massachusetts, community colleges rarely get the attention, and therefore the funds, that they need. Often, when the two-year schools make the news, it’s for all the wrong reasons (look no further than the musical chairs in the Roxbury Community College president’s office over the last couple decades.) How many people are aware that earlier this month, Bunker Hill Community College hired Pam Eddinger, a highly-respected California administrator, to take over as president for the retiring and equally highly respected Mary Fifield? Or that the state system received a $20 million grant from the Labor Department that enabled the schools to make substantive changes for training and educating unemployed and underemployed adults for which administrators are getting high praise?
According to the report, community college spending per student went virtually unchanged between 1999 and 2009, while public four-year colleges increased per-student spending by 11 percent and private schools hiked it by 31 percent. While four-year schools continue to bring in grant money and alumni contributions (and raise tuition) at a faster rate than community colleges, the two-year schools have to scrape by with low tuition and trickle-down funding.
When Gov. Deval Patrick released his budget earlier this year, it called for a $203 million hike in funding for higher education as well as an increase for scholarships from $87 million to $199 million, a good portion of it for community colleges. The House scaled back the funding increase to $104 million in its budget while the Senate’s budget offers a mere $27 million increase. Both branches set the scholarship funding at about $90 million, a $3 million increase. Presidents at the two-year schools said that they would not increase fees if the Patrick or House budget plans prevail. But if the Senate budget is the final outcome, or the bottom line ends up being somewhere between the House and Senate numbers, there’s little chance of that happening.
The biggest cheerleader for community colleges in Massachusetts has been The Boston Foundation, which last month released its second report in the last 18 months chronicling the successes and needs of the higher education bridge. The latest report showed that while the schools do much with less, it highlighted the needs of the students in academics and the schools’ lack of resources to meet those needs. But, again, it appears scant notice is being paid to the findings.
For many of the state’s neediest students financially and academically, community colleges are the stepping stones to better paying jobs and a chance at a bachelor’s degree. More than 80 percent of the students plan to transfer to a four-year school. And, unlike many of the state’s public and private four-year schools, the overwhelming majority of community college students are Massachusetts residents who plan to stay after they graduate. So whatever money goes there, it’s a pretty safe bet it stays here.
— JACK SULLIVAN
BEACON HILL
Lt. Gov. Tim Murray is stepping down to run the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Who says you can’t go home again? asks Lowell Sun columnist Peter Lucas. Eileen McNamara, writing for WBUR, says the timing of Murray’s exit tells you everything you need to know. The Republican looks at his career and legacy and asks “what does a lieutenant governor do anyway?” The Herald echoes that sentiment, while also getting in a few last car crash jokes. The Telegram & Gazette reports the shaky Chamber is looking to Murray for a turnaround.
Rep. John Fresolo, who was reportedly under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, abruptly resigns. The Herald cites alleged irregularities in Fresolo’s per diem invoices, although former Herald reporter Michele McPhee had previously reported, citing “several State House sources,” that Fresolo may have been using his State House computer to emulate Anthony Weiner. The Telegram & Gazette reports per diem invoices were part of the investigation, but other “ethical breaches” were involved, too.
MARATHON BOMBINGS
A Chechen native with ties to dead Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot and killed by a FBI agent who was questioning him when he allegedly attacked the agent during the interrogation.
Chris Faraone accuses Boston’s local-federal intelligence fusion center of missing the Tsarnaev brothers because the center was too busy keeping tabs on local activists. A lawsuit filed by the Massachusetts ACLU revealed that the Boston intelligence fusion center was keeping detailed records on the likes of the late Howard Zinn; in the aftermath of a Waltham triple murder the Tsarnaevs are now implicated in, the Boston fusion center was monitoring Occupy protesters and anti-foreclosure activists.
A rough estimate of the cost of the Watertown manhunt for a Marathon bomber comes to $250,000, NECN reports.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
With another scandal brewing in his administration, Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua is out of the country and hasn’t been seen in nearly two weeks, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
Fourteen towns on Cape Cod want the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant closed for good.
Somerville considers restricting municipal campaign contributions from developers with business before the city.
Cambridge residents want the city’s redevelopment authority to intervene in their ongoing dispute with the developer of a state-owned office building and jail.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Leaders of the state’s congressional delegation are working hard to preserve $250 million in federal Medicare payments to Massachusetts hospitals — funding they say is crucial to the state’s cutting-edge health care sector but which others in Congress refer to as the “Bay State boondoggle.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s mysterious claim that Mitt Romney did not pay taxes for a decade has come up again during the IRS investigation.
ELECTIONS
A WBUR fact check finds US Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez’s claim that rival Ed Markey hasn’t sponsored a single bill in the last 20 years is off the mark.
Gomez releases six years of tax returns showing income of $10.1 million. Markey continues to hem on the issue of releasing his tax returns.
Los Angeles elects a new mayor, with just 15 percent of the city’s electorate turning out to vote.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
A new report predicts healthy growth for the state economy in 2014, with manufacturing playing an important role. CommonWealth spotlighted the surprising strength of the state’s manufacturing sector in this Conversation feature last year.
Big Hollywood studios that benefit from the Massachusetts film tax credit release a study suggesting the incentive is better for the state than Revenue Department reports have indicated, CommonWealth reports. In Haverhill, a former Loews is about to become a set for a movie featuring Denzel Washington, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
The New Hampshire House kills casino legislation that had passed the Senate, effectively ending the possibility of competition for Massachusetts casinos in the near term, the Eagle-Tribune reported.
Penguin settles an e-book pricing lawsuit for $75 million with state attorneys general, CNet reports.
The Nieman Journalism Lab has an interesting interview with Jacob Lanier, who wants to rebuild the middle class with micropayments.
The $500 million Turnpike air rights project near Fenway Park hits a snag with a state board, but it appears to be a short-term delay.
EDUCATION
On Radio Boston, an Amherst College professor explains why his institution is saying no to EdX.
Minnesota will fund all-day kindergarten starting in 2014, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.
HEALTH CARE
The latest analysis shows that the cost of health care for families rose nearly 9 percent on average while wages rose by about 2 percent last year.
The UMass Memorial Medical Center reaches a deal with its nurses union and avoids a strike, NECN reports.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Scituate officials are questioning why sand from a planned dredging project in a shared canal will be dumped on a Marshfield beach to protect it rather than being shared between the two towns.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A self-proclaimed former enforcer for James “Whitey” Bulger has been indicted on federal racketeering charges alleging he conned his way into a high-paying job at a Beacon Hill church and raided its coffers and took kickbacks to pay for cars, loans, and gifts for himself and friends. Peter Gelzinis suggests the FBI let Eddie MacKenzie skate on drug charges a decade ago because of his ties to Bulger.
Lawrence City Clerk William Maloney is arrested for drunk driving, the Eagle-Tribune reports. Meanwhile, a Gloucester man is released by a judge even though his blood alcohol level was well above the legal limit; the judge held the police stop was illegal, the Gloucester Times reports.