4 ways community colleges can boost workforce development

An article from site logo ASU+GSV 2025 4 ways community colleges can boost workforce development

Higher education leaders at this week’s ASU+GSV Summit gave advice for how two-year institutions can boost the economic mobility of their students.

Published April 11, 2025 Natalie Schwartz's headshot Natalie Schwartz Senior Editor Panelists speak at the ASU+GSV Summit. Panelists speak at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, Calif., on April 7, 2025. From left to right: Shaylin Jyotishi, Eloy Oakley, Madeline Pumariega, Ray Martinez and Tom Looney. Natalie Schwartz/Higher Ed Dive Listen to the article 5 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.

SAN DIEGO — How can community colleges deliver economic mobility to their students?

College leaders at this week's ASU+GSV Summit, an annual education and technology conference, got a glimpse into that answer as they heard how community colleges are building support from business and industry and strengthening workforce development.

These types of initiatives may be helping to boost public perception of the value of community colleges vs. four-year institutions. 

Last year, 48% of surveyed Americans said they had high confidence in community colleges, compared with just 33% who said the same about four-year colleges, according to a Gallup poll. Moreover, policy analysts often view community colleges as an engine to increase workforce development — though some still say these institutions could do more to help their students. 

Below, we’re rounding up four takeaways from community college experts about how these institutions can take steps to boost workforce development. 

waitToLoadAds.push(function() { googletag.cmd.push(function() { if (window.dfp_visibility == 'mobile' ) { googletag.display('dfp-hybrid1-mobile'); googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function (event) { var adUnitPath = '/21662595662/highereddive/highereddivehybrid1'; var onProformative = false; if (onProformative && event.slot.getAdUnitPath() === adUnitPath && !event.isEmpty ) { var adUnitPathWithVisibility = adUnitPath + '-mobile'; var selector = '.pf-comments__ad-wrapper [data-container-ad-unit-id="' + adUnitPathWithVisibility + '"]'; if (!$(selector).closest('.pf-comments__ad-wrapper').hasClass('borders')) { $(selector).closest('.pf-comments__ad-wrapper').addClass('borders') } } }); } }); }); waitToLoadAds.push(function() { googletag.cmd.push(function() { if (window.dfp_visibility == 'desktop' ) { googletag.display('dfp-hybrid2-desktop'); googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function (event) { var adUnitPath = '/21662595662/highereddive/highereddivehybrid2'; var onProformative = false; if (onProformative && event.slot.getAdUnitPath() === adUnitPath && !event.isEmpty ) { var adUnitPathWithVisibility = adUnitPath + '-desktop'; var selector = '.pf-comments__ad-wrapper [data-container-ad-unit-id="' + adUnitPathWithVisibility + '"]'; if (!$(selector).closest('.pf-comments__ad-wrapper').hasClass('borders')) { $(selector).closest('.pf-comments__ad-wrapper').addClass('borders') } } }); } }); }); Bring industry into policy advocacy

In 2023, Texas enacted a new outcomes-based funding formula for the state’s community colleges — a change that came with a $683 million price tag. Rather than basing funding primarily on enrollment, the state now ties the majority of its allocation to performance-based measures, such as how many credentials colleges award in high-demand fields. 

As a result of the change, the state’s community colleges saw funding increases in fiscal 2024 ranging from $70,000 to $2.9 million, The Texas Tribune reported last month.

Ray Martinez, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Community Colleges, said unified advocacy from the state’s community college leaders helped the measure gain widespread support from lawmakers. 

Community college leaders also drummed up support from businesses to help get the new funding model over the finish line, Martinez said. 

“We needed business leaders. We needed K-12 leaders,” Martinez said. “We needed other stakeholders to engage with us and to go to their members, to go to the folks that they knew at the Legislature, and say, ‘This is what we need for economic development and for future economic growth of our state.’”

Look to industry to help create curriculum

It’s not enough for community colleges to merely have business and industry representatives on their advisory councils, Martinez said. Institutions need to forge deeper relationships with these stakeholders, including by having them help craft curriculum for workforce education programs. 

Although workforce education programs make up about a quarter of Texas community colleges’ overall offerings, that share is rapidly growing relative to academic programs under the state’s new performance-based funding formula, Martinez noted. 

waitToLoadAds.push(function() { googletag.cmd.push(function() { if (window.dfp_visibility == 'mobile' ) { googletag.display('dfp-hybrid2-mobile'); googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function (event) { var adUnitPath = '/21662595662/highereddive/highereddivehybrid2'; var onProformative = false; if (onProformative && event.slot.getAdUnitPath() === adUnitPath && !event.isEmpty ) { var adUnitPathWithVisibility = adUnitPath + '-mobile'; var selector = '.pf-comments__ad-wrapper [data-container-ad-unit-id="' + adUnitPathWithVisibility + '"]'; if (!$(selector).closest('.pf-comments__ad-wrapper').hasClass('borders')) { $(selector).closest('.pf-comments__ad-wrapper').addClass('borders') } } }); } }); });

“I'm not sure you can single out an industry that is not changing rapidly because of technology or other reasons,” Martinez said. “If you are not engaging with employers in that constant loop of information, you're missing out as a college.” 

Focus on stackable credentials

At Miami Dade College in Florida, leaders are focused on stackable credentials that can be linked together to form an academic pathway.

Stackable credentials represent the “blurring of credit and noncredit,” said Madeline Pumariega, president of Miami Dade College. 

“Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, ‘I want to go take a noncredit course,” Pumariega said. Instead, they seek out the quickest training available to land a certain job, she said. 

But after students complete that noncredit training, it’s key for community colleges to return to them and say, “‘Great, we got you that training, but you're now a quarter of the way there for a college credit certificate,’” Pumariega said. When students finish a certificate, college leaders can then offer them an associate degree before suggesting a bachelor's program, Pumariega said.

Don’t try to be a university

Community college leaders have at times strived for their institutions to be more like their neighboring four-year universities, said Eloy Ortiz Oakley, president and CEO of College Futures Foundation, which aims to boost credential attainment in California. 

“When I started out at community colleges, we were always looking to our sister university,” said Oakley, who previously served as chancellor of the California Community Colleges system. “Well guess what, folks? They need to be more like us now. Okay? They need to be opening their doors to regular working class Americans.” 

Community colleges were built to generally serve 100% of students that apply, Oakley noted. 

“Community colleges were built to be inclusive, to serve the diversity and to raise the equity of the people in those communities,” Oakley told the conference attendees. “I know, for some, those words have become bad words, but you are the epitome of why equity, diversity and inclusion are an economic imperative, not a woke conversation.”

Filed Under: Students Higher Ed Dive news delivered to your inbox

Get the free daily newsletter read by industry experts

Email: Sign up A valid email address is required. Please select at least one newsletter. Daily Dive newsletter example Editors' picks
  • The outside entrance of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D>C> Image attribution tooltip Greggory DiSalvo via Getty Images Image attribution tooltip Education Department warns 60 colleges it could take action over antisemitism concerns

    The letters escalate the Trump administration’s scrutiny of how colleges are handling student protests over the Israel-Hamas war. 

    By Natalie Schwartz • March 10, 2025
  • President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. Image attribution tooltip Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images Image attribution tooltip Trump administration can enforce anti-DEI orders, appeals court rules

    The three-judge panel lifted a lower court’s preliminary injunction that had blocked major portions of two executive orders. 

    By Natalie Schwartz • March 17, 2025
Email: Sign up A valid email address is required. Please select at least one newsletter. var siteName = 'Higher Ed Dive' || null; if (siteName) { setupFormCallbackAndCreateFormIfSub(siteName, 'inline'); } $(document).ready(function () { // copy the contents of the generic_signup partial into the desktop_signup_spot $desktop_signup_spot = $("#desktop-inline-signup"); $desktop_signup = $("#inline-signup-html-desktop").children(); $desktop_signup_spot.append($desktop_signup); $("#inline-signup-html-desktop").remove(); }); A building on Monroe Community College's campus featuring the institution's name. Students walk across the University of Michigan campus A college student walks up the stairs to enter a campus building. The outside entrance of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D>C> A campus building etched with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's name. Manhattan skyline An instructor stands at the front of a classroom talking to several students sitting at desks. A woman works at her laptop, while a child sits on a couch in the background. window.carouselData = {}; window.carouselData.carouselStories = [{"title": "More colleges are creating homeless liaison roles. Here\u2019s why.", "link": "https://www.highereddive.com/news/more-colleges-are-creating-homeless-liaison-roles-heres-why/744262/", "pub_date": "April 3, 2025"}, {"title": "University of Michigan scraps multimillion dollar DEI investment", "link": "https://www.highereddive.com/news/university-of-michigan-scraps-multimillion-dollar-dei-investment/743897/", "pub_date": "March 28, 2025"}, {"title": "\u2018Moving in the right direction\u2019: The push by wealthy institutions to enroll more low-income students", "link": "https://www.highereddive.com/news/moving-in-the-right-direction-the-push-by-wealthy-institutions-to-enroll/743770/", "pub_date": "March 28, 2025"}, {"title": "Education Department reopens IDR student loan plan applications", "link": "https://www.highereddive.com/news/education-department-re-opens-idr-income-driven-repayment-student-loan-applications/743784/", "pub_date": "March 27, 2025"}, {"title": "What types of colleges offer the best ROI?", "link": "https://www.highereddive.com/news/college-roi-georgetown-cew-rankings/743188/", "pub_date": "March 25, 2025"}, {"title": "High school students with autism gain college mentors in NYC program", "link": "https://www.highereddive.com/news/high-school-students-with-autism-gain-college-mentors-in-nyc-program/743238/", "pub_date": "March 24, 2025"}, {"title": "Gender gaps in certain STEM majors are widening \u2014 but not everywhere", "link": "https://www.highereddive.com/news/gender-gaps-college-physics-engineering-computer-science/742053/", "pub_date": "March 19, 2025"}, {"title": "\u2018SEND HELP!\u2019: 59% of students face insecurities around needs like food and housing", "link": "https://www.highereddive.com/news/send-help-59-of-students-face-insecurities-around-needs-like-food-and/741774/", "pub_date": "March 11, 2025"}] // For each carousel story in our object, add the HTML contents of the corresponding .proximized_carousel_image DIV as a property // This will be used in the carousel.mustache.html template to display the image for (i=0; i < $('.proximized_carousel_image').length; i++) { window.carouselData.carouselStories[i].proximizedImage = $('#carousel_' + i).html().trim(); } // Remove the DOM elements for the proximized images since we already have what we need from them $('#carousel_images').remove(); window.carouselData.preferredTopic = "Students" window.carouselData.preferredTopicLink = "/topic/student-success/" window.carouselData.storylineTitle = ""

ES by OMG

Euro-Savings.com |Buy More, Pay Less | Anywhere in Europe

Shop Smarter, Stretch your Euro & Stack the Savings | Latest Discounts & Deals, Best Coupon Codes & Promotions in Europe | Your Favourite Stores update directly every Second

Euro-Savings.com or ES lets you buy more and pay less anywhere in Europe. Shop Smarter on ES Today. Sign-up to receive Latest Discounts, Deals, Coupon Codes & Promotions. With Direct Brand Updates every second, ES is Every Shopper’s Dream come true! Stretch your dollar now with ES. Start saving today!

Originally posted on: https://www.highereddive.com/news/ways-community-colleges-workforce-development/745090/