SB 85 (Favola and Hanger) which would increase the expected family contribution allowed for eligibility for the Two-Year Transfer Grant from $8,000 to $12,000 was reported unanimously. This change would mean that approximately 800 more students would be eligible for the transfer grant than are currently receiving the grant.  Over 1100 students have received the transfer grant since legislation enacting the program was first established in 2007, and over $1.4 million has been awarded.

SB 100 (Edwards) which would establish a scholarship match program for two-year institutions and the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education was also reported unanimously. SB 100 would provide an incentive to donors to each of Virginia’s 23 community college foundations and to the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education by establishing a state dollar-for-dollar match for every dollar raised privately.  Funds would be earmarked for scholarships for students enrolled in an associate degree program and studying science, technology, engineering, math, education, or nursing.

Posted by Ellen Davenport

Transfer grant bills

All transfer grant bills (HB 437,  SB 85 and SB 400) have passed their Houses of origin and are headed to money committees. HB 437  (Tata) was heard on Monday, January 16 and passed on a 19-1 vote; the VCCS, SCHEV, Virginia 21 and the Council for Independent Colleges spoke in favor of the legislation. HB 437 will be heard in the Higher Ed subcommittee of House Appropriations on Monday, Jan. 23, at 3 p.m.

SB 85 (Favola) and SB 400 (Hanger) were rolled together in Senate Education and Health and passed unanimously. SCHEV, the VCCS and the Virginia Manufacturers Association spoke in support. The legislation has been re-referred to the Senate Finance Committee.

Community Colleges Offering Baccalaureate Degrees

Delegate Danny Marshall’s bill for community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees in areas geographically isolated from public four-year colleges and universities (HJ 95), will be heard on Jan. 24 in House Rules. 

Military Students in College

HB 195  (Lewis) – The original bill called for every institution of higher education to develop policies that award academic credit to students for educational experience gained from military service. The bill was amended in the House Education Subcommittee to have these policies developed by the new Military Advisory Committee that SCHEV is forming.  The amended bill will be taken up Jan. 23.

HB 548 (Comstock) – The original bill called for every institution of higher education to give military personnel certain advantages over regular students (such as preferential treatment in course registrations). This bill was also amended in the House Education Subcommittee to have these policies developed by the new Military Advisory Committee of SCHEV. The amended bill will be taken up Jan. 23.

Dual Enrollment

HB 1184 (Rust) is the Governor’s dual enrollment bill that requires local school boards and community colleges to develop agreements allowing high schools students to complete an associate’s degree or a one-year Uniform Certificate of General Students from a community college concurrent with a high school diploma.  This bill has been referred to the House Education Committee and will likely be referred to the Higher Ed subcommittee (which Rust chairs).

Posted by Ellen Davenport

Today Chancellor Glenn DuBois paid a visit to J. Sargent Reynolds Community College to speak about what Virginia’s Community Colleges are doing to serve military-related students – and also ways to improve the military friendliness at each institution.

His speech highlights a few of the initiatives our schools have already taken to serve our active duty members of the military and reserves, veterans and their families. Read Dr. DuBois’ full remarks from today by clicking on the PDF attached to this post.

Dr. DuBois VCCS and Veterans Speech

posted by Krystal Gillespie

A recent article in the Washington Post took notice of this trend. The article cites a study issued by Sallie Mae that revealed that 22 percent of students from households earning $100,000 or more attended community colleges in the 2010-11 academic year, up from 12 percent in the previous year — which they note is the highest rate reported in the past four years.

The article highlights our very own Northern Virginia Community College, which is the second largest community college in the nation. As quoted in the Post today:

“You could pay for a whole year at NOVA for the amount you pay for room and board somewhere else,” said John Michie, 20, a second-year student at Northern Virginia Community College.

Community college is increasingly becoming more appealing to all types of students. It is no longer a last resort — it’s first choice, even for people who can afford the price of public and private institutions. There are many benefits of community college in addition to the savings.

Getting the general education requirements over and done with
All colleges require them, so why not get them done at half the cost and in a smaller classroom environment. After earning an associate degree through a Virginia community college system you are guaranteed admission into more than 24 universities.

More time to decide exactly what you want to do
Community college automatically builds in two more years for you to decide what career path college students want to follow.

Flexible class schedules
Classes are offered throughout the day, at night, on weekends and even in the summer. It allows students to work, be with their family and hang out with their friends all while earning their degree.

Those are just a few of the additional benefits to community college. What benefits make you put community college at the top of your list?

– Posted by Krystal Gillespie

All 15 colleges had Great Expectations coaches in attendance at the forum.

The youth shared stories about their coaches keeping them on the right track but in addition being there when they needed someone to talk to. The group shared tears from their past, followed by smiles for their future.  By the end of the program it was obvious that because the coaches reached out, these young adults had a support system they could count on-and more importantly a sense of family they never experienced before.

Pictured here were just a few of the students that traveled from across Virginia to be a part of this years forum.

The group will meet again this March for a fun forum filled with games and workshops for the foster youth and Great Expectations coaches. Stay tuned for more updates on our program through our website, Facebook page and blog. 

RCC website

Starting the month off, The Center for Digital Education announced Sept. 1 that Rappahannock Community College was the winner in the Center’s “Best of the Web” competition in the community college category. RCC spent about a year researching and updating its site to be more student focused, moving it to the WordPress platform.

Tidewater Community College was a winner in the Center’s “Digital Education Achievement Awards” in the higher education digital application/project category for its Direct Student Loan Application and Financial Aid Education site. 

Then earlier this week, TCC’s student loan education and counseling project received an honorable mention in the 2011 Governor’s Technology Awards. Through the innovative use of business process planning and digital technology, TCC helps students borrow responsibly and make sound investments in their education. 

Piedmont Virginia Community College also was recognized with an honorable mention in the Governor’s awards for its partnership with Albemarle County to provide IT interns.

Today, community colleges made news again, in the Center for Digital Education’s seventh annual  Digital Community College Survey. 

Virginia Western Community College topped the mid-size colleges category in technology integration into college curriculum and campus life.  Other community colleges making the “top 10″ in their respective enrollment categories included:

• Northern Virginia (3rd) and Tidewater (7th) in the large community college category;
• Virginia Western (1st), Germanna (4th), Lord Fairfax (4th), New River (8th) in the mid-sized colleges category; and
• Rappahannock (6th), Southwest Virginia (7th) and Piedmont Virginia (10th) in the small colleges category.

Way to go team!

–posted by Susan Hayden

PS – Also this month, Matt Lawson is interviewed in Campus Technology magazine on enterprise cloud strategies.

With Tidewater Community College as the coordinating college, a consortium of all 23 Virginia Community Colleges received the second-highest grant amount of $24.1 million and what may be the biggest single competitive grant award for community colleges in Virginia.

Virginia’s project will be targeted to strategies that will help realize the goals of the Achieve 2015 strategic plan to increase the numbers of students graduating, transferring or completing a workforce credential. The project includes partnering with employers and working with the Workforce Investment Boards across the state.

Specific targets of Virginia’s projects include:

• Creating a new network of adult career coaches at one-stops and community colleges throughout Virginia that will follow students through their programs all the way to job acquisition;
• A new Health Sciences Career Studies Certificate that will demonstrate integrating strategies;
• Completing redesign of developmental education curriculums, including provision for significant faculty professional development;
• Expanding information on Virginia Education Wizard for course planning, including more noncredit workforce offerings; and
• Implementing an automated early advising warning system promoting “active outreach” to students at all colleges.

The grants come through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant program and are a successor to the American Graduation Initiative. For an look at the national picture, see today’s Inside Higher Education about the competitive nature of the funds.

The Department of Labor also has a news release that shows state by state disbursements.

This three-year award will help Virginia’s Community Colleges train adults for good paying jobs and play a significant role in reengineering efforts.

And it’s no small boost for Achieve 2015′s Resources goal  – to bring in $550 million in outside funds by 2015 –  as well.

Here are five different approaches to education, jobs, career, and business that, if I could go back, I would handle differently,

he says, and continues with, among other things:

Spend the first two years at a community college.

In Virginia the state schools have formal arrangements with community colleges; for example, a student who gets a 2-year degree and at least a 3.4 GPA is guaranteed admission to the University of Virginia.

When I graduated high school UVA didn’t want me; under this system they would been forced to want me….

I can’t think of a good reason not to take this approach.

His column is a refreshing take on a now familiar subject.  Spending a year working before going to school, working outside of your profession, and creating 10-year plans are some of the other things he recommends.

 Check out his posts.

–posted by Susan Hayden

Tidewater is closed today through Sunday at least; Thomas Nelson is closed today through Monday. Paul D. Camp is closing at 2 p.m. today through noon on Monday. Rappahannock closes at 12:30 p.m. today for the weekend.

Damage to Germanna's Fredericksburg Campus

Virginia’s Community Colleges are a statewide resource – so when there are weather or geologic events in the commonwealth, you can be sure they affect at least one community college or another.

Students, faculty and staff statewide buzzed about the rumbles and swayings of buildings across the state after Tuesday’s earthquake.  While it was a novelty for most of us, when the dust settled, Germanna’s Fredericksburg Campus had significant damage — enough to close the building down for the rest of the semester.  (Students will resume classes on Sept. 6; nursing and dental hygiene classes restart Aug. 30).

For some, news of the earthquake brought back anxious memories – BRCC President John Downey didn’t want to be seeing news of an earthquake, especially with staff and students back in Haiti, where a huge devastating earthquake struck 18 months ago imperiling students and staff but also inspiring them to continue their philanthropic efforts in the impoverished nation.  One of BRCC’s students was recording a lecture at the time of the central Virginia earthquake – and got the rumblings of the earthquake on tape, too.

Students, faculty and staff all used the earthquake as a teachable moment.

At NVCC, assistant professor of geology Callan Bentley has a great blog about the earthquake with materials he uses with his students. While Bentley was just leaving class when the earthquake struck, Joel Gregory was about to start one. Gregory was preparing to teach his natural science class Wednesday at Danville Community College.

“If there’s a great lead-in to start a class, this is it,” Gregory said in the Danville Register & Bee.

Professors were also interviewed at colleges across the state for perspective on the quake, and students were quoted about what they were doing when it hit.

We have a little more experience with hurricanes, but this weekend’s looks like it could be pretty significant. Stay ready!

Posted by Susan Hayden

Governor McDonnell and Secretary Fornash started off the video announcement on the Finish Line project.

PHCC group on video monitor

Governor Robert McDonnell participated with three community colleges this week via video to announce a project that will help students cross the “Finish Line.” 

Delegations including local legislators and college officials joined in from Danville Community College, Patrick Henry Community College, Southside Virginia Community College and the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center to pledge to reach out students who have 15 credits hours, help them complete an associate’s degree, and depending on career plans, move on to a bachelor’s program. Each site was linked through a video bridge at the Virginia Community College System, and the event was covered by a number of news outlets in Southside, including the Danville Register & Bee and the Martinsville Bulletin.

An estimated 900,000 Virginians currently have some partial college credit. In Southside, 41,000 people could potentially benefit from the program. Finish Line would help the state with its goal of awarding more than 100,000 degrees in the next 15 years. The Tobacco Commission funded the $165,000 regional project, which has all of the schools collaborating with New College Institute in Martinsville.

Southern Virginia Higher Ed Center

Southside signs on

The Finish Line project is one of at least two initiatives designed to boost completion rates – already, two colleges, Tidewater Community College and Virginia Western Community College, are completing the first year of the Win-Win project funded by the

Dr. Ramsey and Del. Merricks look on from Danville

Lumina Foundation through the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP).  That project looks to identify students short nine credits or less from a degree – and help them find ways to get there. Four more schools -

Secretary Fornash and Chancellor DuBois concluded the Finish Line video conference.