Minneapolis College Joins #CCMonth
Minneapolis College will join #CCMonth, a monthlong grassroots education and stigma-busting campaign coordinated by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). The primary goals of #CCMonth are to improve awareness of the economic, academic and equity advantages of attending community colleges, and to bust longtime stigmas wrongly associated with public two-year colleges.
Public community colleges are a uniquely American educational model that was designed to guarantee access to affordable, high-quality higher education for all people. They are the primary educators of life-saving nurses and other healthcare professionals, trade technicians, and many others. They also serve as an onramp to bachelor’s, master’s, and higher-level degrees for many students. They guarantee fair admissions for all students and offer supports for adult students who must work to support their families. Without community colleges, many American students would not be able to access higher education at all.
In short, community colleges were created to serve the needs of their communities, and they do it exceptionally well.
Research from New America's annual Varying Degrees study and other sources reveals that the majority of American people hold community colleges in the highest regard among all higher education institutions with respect to being worth the cost of attendance, whether tax dollars should support them, and whether they spend their resources wisely and run efficiently.
“The new-and-future economy is a skills-based economy,” said ACCT President and CEO Jee Hang Lee. “The nation's community colleges always have specialized in providing practical education and skills that students can use to advance themselves in a competitive economy. They give opportunities to all students, and they support all students throughout their education, whether they attend to attain an associate degree or certificate, intend to transfer on for a bachelor’s or higher degree, or they take one or a few courses to learn a new skill or expand their horizons.”
Each year's #CCMonth campaign makes millions of impressions across social media platforms. This year, organizers are encouraging students and other to take the message to their favorite online social platforms to spread the word about the importance of community colleges in cultivating skills for the future, and the unique affordability that community colleges offer to financially challenged generations.