Small Innovations Help Community College Students
By Albert B. Kelly
I’m always impressed by innovation. By innovation, I don’t always mean the type of technological innovation that we see with devices and platforms, but relatively small changes in programs and bureaucracies that lead to greater opportunities for people to succeed. Rowan’s Cumberland Campus has gotten creative with payment plans, and I’m also thinking about approaches taken by Valencia College in Orlando, Florida.
It is fair to ask what a community college in Florida has to do with South Jersey and the answer is probably not much, but then again the problems faced by colleges are fairly common and well known so that new approaches or innovative solutions implemented at one might be worth a try at another. At least that was my reaction listening to an NPR story by Elissa Nadworny on how Valencia College was handling the gut punch known as Covid 19.
I don’t know the specific numbers for Rowan College of South Jersey and particularly the Cumberland County campus, but if it’s like community colleges nationwide, enrollment is down some 10% or more from what it was before the pandemic hit. It’s no surprise that the biggest impact is felt by lower-income students many of whom start at community college.
We don’t yet know what the long term consequences will be from the pandemic, but I imagine this Covid-sized hole, a big empty space created by 2020-2021 that blew up the plans of an untold number of students whether seniors graduating high school, freshman starting community college, the graduating class, and working adults trying gain a foothold in an economy that increasingly demands specialization and credentials just to get in the door.
Maybe it won’t be that obvious because all these affected lives will just melt into the daily grind, but I can’t help thinking of them as I do past generations like those born between 1917 and 1923 who arrived just in time for WWII whose plans got cut short in unimaginable ways. This pandemic will have its own unique impacts, but it will play out over a lifetime.
But that’s why I was impressed with these colleges even if part of it was in the name of self-preservation. For example, Valencia College waived all application fees for new students and for students already enrolled in a course of study they allowed them to retake classes for free. That might not sound like much, but when you’re working your way through college a class or two at a time; it is simply not that easy to pay for the same ground twice.
My guess is that there were many students who failed classes in the midst of the pandemic for a variety of reasons whether because they struggled with internet access, distractions at home while trying to take virtual classes, the stress of losing jobs or not being able to make the bills, fighting illness or caring for a sick family member or some combination of these things it all takes its toll. With these things in mind, Valencia College gave any student who failed an online class a $500 scholarship to take another class.
I give much credit to the Cumberland campus for launching the Cumberland Hero Campaign. Because too many Cumberland Students are struggling with getting textbooks, accessing WiFi, and other necessities to remain plugged in during the pandemic, the Cumberland Hero Program raises money to help students facing unforeseeable hardships. If you’re inclined to give, know the value of this type of help can’t be overestimated.
If nothing else, this pandemic has reminded us that we might have to rethink how we do things largely because it has exposed existing weaknesses and blind spots. Our responses don’t always have to consist of big changes, but small targeted changes like a free “do over”, an automatic small scholarship, or a fund to help students facing unforeseeable hardships, all of these innovations will keep the Classes of 2020 and 2021 from being a lost generation.