Key Messages

Interested in helping to communicate the important role community colleges have in Texas? Here are some key messages and facts you can use when making your case. Also, don’t be afraid to personalize your message!

The Facts:

  • Community colleges offer accessible, affordable, high quality and responsive higher education, workforce development, career and skill training opportunities.
  • 1 out of 5 Texas undergraduates attends a community college.
  • Community colleges served over 468,000 students in the 2010-11
    • 218,699 were enrolled in credit career programs or noncredit workforce development courses
    • 135,970 were enrolled in credit transfer programs
    • 54,596 were served through contracted training
  • 97 percent of community college students are Texas residents.
  • Texas community college campuses, instructional sites, and centers are in 44 counties of the Commonwealth and students reside in every PA county.
  • Collectively, the 14 community colleges have a list of capital projects that exceed $100 million. These shovel-ready projects would modernize science labs and create new learning environments for emerging jobs training.

Key Messages

  • Texas’s community colleges are the most accessible and affordable option of higher education in the state. Because of this, the colleges are uniquely positioned to deliver education and workforce training on a statewide scale and have a significant impact on student lives, the economy and the workforce.
  • The services community colleges provide give hundreds of thousands of Texas residents the chance to pursue their educational dreams and career and employment goals.
  • Across the state, in dentists’ offices, doctors’ offices, hospitals, advanced manufacturing firms, schools, fire houses and police stations are Texas community college graduates.
  • Community colleges make education affordable for students who would otherwise miss out.

Why State Assistance is Needed: For Students, For Business, For the Economy:

  • Community colleges need the state’s assistance to update labs and equipment that are used to train and educate students with skills that transfer seamlessly to the workplace.
  • Surging enrollment over the past 5 years has taken a toll on campus facilities and the equipment used to train students for jobs. Community colleges need the state’s assistance to update facilities and ensure students graduate with workforce-ready skills and can begin work from Day 1.
  • Investing in job training at community colleges is a crucial step to putting more Americans in better-paying jobs.
  • When matched with the needs of local employers, community colleges become the perfect vehicle to train a highly skilled workforce.
  • The business community is in need of highly-skilled workers trained with current equipment so that students can transfer seamlessly from the classroom to the workplace. Community colleges are a vital resource to the business community in training current and future generations of workers.
  • Community colleges can help train students to meet the need of emerging industries in Texas. Without the help of community colleges, Texas businesses will lack the world-class workforce needed to compete at a global level, and many Texasns will remain out of work and unemployable.
  • Community colleges are responsive to the ever-changing needs of industry by offering new and adapted programs that align with a region’s workforce needs. Our new programs in areas such as welding, advanced manufacturing, robotics and information technology are creating pathways to the baccalaureate degree for thousands of students unable to afford four full years of university tuition.
  • Texas needs its community colleges to educate and prepare students with skills for today’s jobs and a better state economy.