Virginia community colleges facing enrollment crunch

by Heather Hayes
Virginia Business
September 2005

For some time Glenn DuBois, chancellor of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), has been warning about an impending crisis at the state’s two-year colleges: Too many students and not enough space or faculty.

Now, DuBois has the hard numbers to back up his warning. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) estimates that enrollment at the state’s 23 community colleges will reach 186,555 students by 2012, a jump of 27.4 percent over 2004 enrollment figures of 146,472. The SCHEV report predicts that half of the enrollment growth will occur in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, regions served by schools already operating beyond capacity.

But SCHEV’s numbers are probably on the conservative side, says DuBois. He notes that an increasing number of companies need workers with two-year degrees and certificates while a growing number of students choose community colleges as a lower-cost “on ramp” to higher education.

“The good news in all of this is that more and more people are seeking post-secondary education,” Du-Bois says. “The tougher news is that we have to expand our capacity if we’re going to assimilate the demand.”
For the chancellor, the numbers mean the community college system must obtain state funds to expand existing schools and build additional campuses in high-growth areas such as Northern Virginia, Richmond, Hampton Roads and Charlottesville.

DuBois and other school officials, however, also are interested in trying out creative solutions. These include investment partnerships with the private sector. One idea under consideration would be to sell or give campus land to corporations. These companies, in turn, would construct office buildings on the sites while reserving some space for classrooms and laboratories. “They would have to build the building according to our specifications, and they would have to do something in that building that strengthens our mission or complements it,” DuBois says.