In his first State of the Commonwealth address last night, Governor Bob McDonnell  described Virginia’s community colleges as “the critical intersection between preparation and profession.”  The Governor said that our community colleges “help people get the skills they need to land the job they want in the communities in which they live.” 

Governor McDonnell’s emphasis on bringing new jobs and more opportunities to Virginia is aligned with the role that community colleges play in jobs creation.  Moreover, the 28 guaranteed admissions agreements that Virginia’s community colleges have in place with Virginia public and private colleges and universities for transfer students will accelerate and promulgate the Governor’s goal of increasing Virginia’s colleges graduates by 100,000 over the next 15 years. 

Virginia’s community colleges represent the personal economic recovery plan for more and more people.  Over the past two years, the collective enrollment at our community colleges has grown by 22,000 students.  If you look at this spring semester’s preliminary enrollment headcount, we are up by 15,000 students or  10 percent over the spring of 2009. 

Virginia’s community colleges accelerate job creation and provide countless opportunities to hundreds of thousands of Virginians. 

Posted by Ellen Davenport