Community college presidents: Funding needed to meet Iowa workforce needs

DES MOINES - Community college presidents presented a generally upbeat picture of Iowa's two-year college system role in meeting present and future workforce needs.

However, in a presentation to the Legislature's Education Appropriations Subcommittee Tuesday, they warned they need more funding to meet the demands of students and employers.

Sixty-five percent of the students at Northeast Iowa Community College in Dubuque and Calmar are part-time, President Liang Chee Wee told lawmakers. Systemwide, 59 percent of community college students are part-time.

Some may take up to six years to complete their program, Wee said, 'but I guarantee that when they are done they will make you proud.”

The annual Condition of Iowa's Community Colleges report showed statewide enrollment in community colleges was 93,772 in September. Community college enrollment peaked at 105,597 in 2011.

The demand for a skilled workforce is growing, but Iowa's workforce is not getting any younger and the working age population is falling, Northeast Iowa Community College President Liang Chee Wee told lawmakers. In the 500 square-mile NICC region, he said there will be 17,000 job openings in the next 10 years.

'That gets me excited,” Wee said.

Lawmakers like to talk about 'lifting the middle class,” he said. 'Community colleges have been doing that for years” by providing students training and education so they leave either career-ready or prepared to complete a four-year degree program.

While thankful for state funding, he and Dan Kinney Jr., president of Iowa Central Community College, said the community colleges need funding. Originally, the thinking was tuition, state aid, and local support each would provide one-third of the funding for the community colleges, he said.

In 1967, tuition covered 14 percent of community colleges' program costs. Today it's 56 percent, Kinney said. State aid has dropped from 39 percent to 32 percent. Local support has dropped from 28 percent 48 years ago to less than 5 percent today.

State per pupil funding has dropped 20 percent since 2000 to $2,074, Kinney said.

To keep tuition as low as possible, Kinney said, his college is trying to raise $1 million in scholarship funds from the local business community.

The governor's proposed 1.75 percent increase in community college funding is not likely to cover higher costs, such as negotiated salary increases, he said.

Legislators showed support for more funding, but made no commitments.

'It sounds like you're telling us you can't do any more with less,” Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, said. 'If we're looking for a skilled workforce, we need to be serious about backing community colleges with the financial assistance they need.”