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April is Community College Month and Lincoln Trail College is joining other community colleges across the nation in celebrating. The primary goals of Community College Month are to improve awareness of the economic, academic, and equity advantages of attending community colleges and to bust longtime stigmas wrongly associate with public two-year colleges.
“In many ways, our colleges are the unsung heroes of transfer education, workforce development, economic development, career education, community enrichment, and the list goes on,” said Dr. Zahi Atallah, Lincoln Trail College President. “Needless to say, we serve more students than any other higher education system in this nation.
We are the first step; and perhaps the only one; for millions of folks who aspire to change their lives.”
Public community colleges are a uniquely American educational model that was designed to guarantee access to affordable, high-quality higher education for all people. They are the primary educators of life-saving nursing and other healthcare professionals among many others. They also serve as an onramp to bachelor’s, master’s, and higher-level degrees for many students, and particularly for the most demographically and socioeconomically diverse students. They guarantee fair admissions for all students. They offer supports for adult students who have to work to support their families. And without community colleges, many American students would not be able to access higher education at all.
“In rural areas, we are it for many people when it comes to higher education,” said Atallah. “So, when we talk about access and accessibility, we’re talking about people who may not have the means of going anywhere else. It can be hard for some of them to attend a residential four-year institution. Most of those are selective. We are not. We open doors for them to go to those selective places or we offer them opportunities to get trained in a flexible manner around their lifestyle and what is dictated by their circumstances whereas others expect you to fit a particular mold and expect you to be a full-time student all the time.”
One of the stigmas that community colleges carry across the nation is that the quality of education is not as good as four-year colleges. “That’s simply not true,” said Atallah. “There’s certainly a stereotype out there, but when you look at the instructors at Lincoln Trail College, you’ll see people who are experts in their fields. We have career and technical instructors that have spent decades in their respective industries. We’ve also been recognized time and again for the quality. We’re a Top 150 U.S. Community College as recognized by the Aspen Institute. Our Certified Medical Assistant program was recognized as the top program in the United States. Our online classes have been recognized as some of the best in the nation. Not only does the list go on, but I want to point out that we haven’t solicited any of these awards. These are independent agencies that have found what we do and recognized us for the quality we provide to our students every day and every year. Quality is baked into our DNA at Lincoln Trail College.”
Community colleges have a strong economic impact on both students and the economy. A recent study conducted by Emsi Burning Glass found that students at Lincoln Trail College and Illinois Eastern Community Colleges see a high rate of return for their educational investment.
“The average annual rate of return was 23 percent,” said IECC and LTC Director of Marketing Chris Forde. “That far outperforms the stock market’s 30-year average annual return of 9.9 percent and the interest earned on savings accounts of 0.8 percent.”
Forde says the average associate degree graduate from IECC will see an increase in earnings of $9,600 each year compared to a person with a high school diploma or equivalent working in Illinois. The study found that the average salary for someone with an associate degree is $41,900.
In Fiscal Year 2018-19, the study found that Illinois Eastern Community Colleges had a $199,000,000 impact on the economy in the region. “The impact of increased earnings by alumni and the businesses they work for was 146.4 million dollars. The impact of the daily spending of IECC students attracted to or retained in the region 13.7 million dollars of added income,” said Forde.
Atallah says the Lincoln Trail College Foundation has also made education accessible to many students through its scholarships. “This year they’ve given out $200,000 to students to help them attend LTC. That’s incredible because that makes education accessible to people that may not have been able to get any kind of education before. To me, that’s really at the heart of the mission of community colleges. We’re here to enrich lives.”
