Creating a community college in the District of Columbia

Because policymakers don't make a habit of consulting me first... I would argue that the recent proposals to create a community college system in DC aren't all that daring. See "New Talk of D.C. Community College: Leaders Say Timing Might Be Right for Oft-Discussed Idea" and "Job-Training College Proposed for City Residents" from the Post.

The issue is that you can't look at the issue of higher education in multiple separate silos. You have to consider the K-12 articulation issue, the issue of educating students who are first-to-attend college in their families, the issue of educating international students, the issue of cooperative extension--as UDC is considered an urban land grant institution by the US Dept. of Agriculture, etc.

Relatedly, what kind of anchor would I want if I were the czar of economic development in Anacostia, and considering Poplar Point?

Well, unlike the letter to the editor written by Norris McDonald, president of the African American Environmentalist Association in "A Stadium Plan That Will Pay Off," I would rather take a university than a soccer stadium any day. How about UDC?

A proposal to move UDC to Ward 7/Ward 8, proposed by Mayor Williams many years ago, was fought off by people East of the River. I don't see soccer as a better choice. Neither do 26 academic economists, rounded up by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute to sound off against public funding of the soccer stadium, according to "Economists blast plans for public subsidy to help fund new D.C. United stadium," from the Examiner.

In any case $150 to $225 million could make a great university, especially one that could develop a related research park on the nearby St. Elizabeth's campus.

Here's something I wrote in June 2001, in DC Watch's themail on related issues (slightly edited):

After UDC

Re: Ed Barron's last posting about UDC. I think I've mentioned my ideas on higher education in DC on this list before, but maybe not. The "State University of New York" is the master organization for state-supported higher education in that state. SUNY directly runs most of the state supported higher education institutions [such as SUNY Albany, and provides significant funding to the City University of New York].

However, SUNY funds “state” colleges at least two different private universities in New York state. At Cornell, the state funds a few schools — agriculture, labor, and home ecology. In-state students who go to these schools pay a “state-level” tuition that is much less than that of the "private" Cornell University. Similarly, SUNY funds a forestry school at Syracuse University. It operates similarly to the “SUNY schools” at Cornell.

We could do the same in DC, and contract for an undergraduate liberal arts college with any of the private universities in DC — maybe a joint urban studies/architecture program with Catholic University, for example. What would have to be determined is what types of academic programs we would want to have available as “state-supported undergraduate or graduate education programs.” Similarly, maybe we could contract with Montgomery College to create a combined DC/Montgomery County community college district to offer courses at that level. [emphasis added]

Finally, with regards to access to state-supported higher education for DC residents, the federal program mentioned by Mr. Barron only covers undergraduate education. For those of us who want to pursue higher education, but prefer a state-supported option, comparable to the University of Maryland at College Park or even George Mason, we're out of luck. I wish the federal government would develop a comparable program whereby DC residents could pursue graduate education at state tuition rates at public universities in Virginia and Maryland. I sent and E-mail to Delegate Norton's office about this, but never received a response.
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Here are some related articles from the Washington Post backfile (these articles are not likely to be available online for free, however they are accessible via library websites including DC Public Library):

-- Mayor Seeks His Stride; After a Year of Steps and Stumbles,Williams Aims to Push for Gains (2000);
-- CITY COLLEGE; Its financial, management and academic woes are legendary. But for many city residents, UDC remains the sole path to higher education (1999);
-- Williams Backs Down, Drops Plan to Move UDC (1999);
-- UDC More Welcome in SE Than Wanted in Van Ness; View of Relocation Plan Depends on Vantage (1999);
-- The Long View for Anacostia (1999);
-- The Mayor and UDC (1999).

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And, I would say if DC were to set up a separate community college, rather than create a separate college, use the Northern Virginia Community College model. NoVA serves multiple jurisdictions: Alexandria; Arlington County; Fairfax County; Prince William County; and Loudoun County (maybe more).

Why not do something similar on the DC/Maryland side?

Do we really need three institutions to cover DC, Prince George's County, and Montgomery County? Does DC need to pay some chancellor of a community college $400,000 and create a separate college infrastructure? Etc.