Community colleges want aid for dual-enrolled HS students
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Karen Morris-Priester knows she isn't representative of all community college students.
"I was the first grandmother to go to Yale Medical School," Morris-Priester said.
More precisely, she's Dr. Karen Morris-Priester, MD, an anesthesiologist in Allentown.
But first, she was a community college student, in her case at HACC in Central Pennsylvania. (The acronym formerly stood for Harrisburg Area Community College.)
"If it hadn't been for the chance that I went right down the street to my community college, I would not be a physician today," said Morris-Priester, a mother of five who took her then-teenage daughters with her to Yale, so she could attend medical school, and then did her medical residency at Harvard.
Morris-Priester's story caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey, who paid off her student loans.
No one suggests everyone can accomplish what Morris-Priester accomplished, nor that everyone should – the world needs people skilled at all kinds of trades, which often require a two-year degree or less.
But -- says Dr. John Sygielski, HACC's president, who recently penned an op-ed story asking Governor-elect Josh Shapiro to prioritize community colleges -- success in almost every field can involve time at a community college.
What does he want from Shapiro and other leaders?
For one thing, more paths for high school students to begin earning credits through dual-enrollment programs. The programs exist now, but Sygielski said students have to pay for the credits, which prevents some from getting a jump on their college education.
"There are many other states that provide that incentive to juniors and seniors, sometimes even freshmen and sophomores in high school," he said.
Another wish high on Sygielski's list: significantly more funding for programs that train health care workers.
"Hospitals are clamoring for our students in not only nursing, but the allied health: radiology, respiratory therapy, medical diagnostic sonography," he said.
Dr. Quintin Bullock, president of the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC), agreed with those priorities and added another.
"Resources to support our capital needs," Bullock said. "All of our facilities are aging."
Bullock has been in the field for 31 years. What has changed since he started?
"I think community colleges are becoming more vital to our community partners – business and industry," he said.
CCAC is Pennsylvania's third-largest community college by student enrollment, behind HACC and the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), according to Community College Review.
Sygielski said one underappreciated benefit of community colleges is that students who transfer to four-year universities are more likely to complete their degrees there than students who go straight to universities from high school.
What does the governor-elect -- to whom Sygielski addressed his op-ed column -- think of all that?
"Governor-Elect Josh Shapiro believes Pennsylvania students should be able to chart their own course -- whether that means completing an apprenticeship program right after high school or going to one of Pennsylvania's 15 community colleges," said Will Simons, a spokesman for Shapiro. "His administration will work to expand opportunities for students across the commonwealth by investing in higher education, expanding vocational, technical and computer training and cutting red tape that prevents students and workers from charting their own course."
Shapiro's transition team includes three community college leaders: CCP's president Dr. Donald Guy Generals; Christopher Gray, president of Erie County Community College; and Elizabeth Bolden, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges.