Butler keeps education affordable, up-to-date

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series titled “The State of Community Colleges Today.” The series was created by Sarah Evans, director of communications at Elgin Community College in Elgin, Illinois.

The state of community colleges today

Bad economies hurt most businesses, but economic downturns often benefit higher education as workers seek skills to remain competitive in the workforce.

Community colleges tend to fare especially well due to the fact that they offer comparable courses at about half the cost of a traditional four-year school.

This is true at Butler Community College, a two-year school with its main campus about 29 miles northeast of Wichita, the largest city in Kansas, and its largest growing site just 10 minutes from the heart of downtown.

Students and administrators describe Butler as a vibrant, engaging institution with options for many types of students.

“If more people knew that Butler is half the cost of most four-year universities, or that many could get their first two years of college paid for with scholarships at Butler, I think more people would consider coming to Butler,” freshman Olivia Newfarmer said.

Butler has approximately 8,365 students enrolled in more than 60 academic programs and majors. The student-to-faculty ratio is just 17:1.

“As more folks are looking for ways to retrain, change careers and the like, community colleges provide a very affordable and accessible avenue to do so,” said Ryan Entz, executive director of marketing and communications at Butler, whose main campus is in El Dorado, Kan.

Enrollment trends

For many, the image of community college represents a blend of recent high school graduates and mid-career students seeking training or career change. At Butler, however, the classroom makeup is evolving.

“About 15 years ago, the average age of our students was 27. Today it’s 23,” said Gene George, Butler’s executive director of research and institutional effectiveness. “The 18-22 age (group) is the largest segment of our enrollment and appears to be growing.”

Quality of education

When considering the lower cost and smaller class sizes, some question whether the quality of education suffers at community colleges. This is a myth, say students and administrators at Butler.

“A lot of people say things like ‘You can’t get a good education at a community college,’ ” Newfarmer, a freshman, said. “This definitely is not true. Butler has really opened my eyes and given me a first-hand look into what may possibly be my future.”

Butler officials said that it’s a misconception that today’s community colleges are where students go when they are not ready for a “real” college.

“Most community college faculty and staff shudder at the idea that their institutions are an extension of high school,” George added. “Community college education is college-level work that requires critical thinking skills and broader personal engagement with new ideas than was required in high school.”

Student Government Association President Bradley Zrubek noted that the average Butler GPA is higher than several of their four-year counterparts in Kansas.

Social learning

Social media are tremendously popular with today’s college students, and community college educators are working to keep their educational practices current.

Traditional formal classrooms may be relatively ineffective for today’s students, Butler administrators said.

“We need to capitalize on the growing body of research regarding the social nature of learning and bring the best learning environments into our classrooms,” George said. “To do that, we need to generate institutional capabilities to adapt to new conditions.”

George said that higher education cannot become outmoded or unable to meet the demands of current students.

“To remain relevant to the needs and interests of our students, we need to demonstrate that we provide learning experiences that create value relevant to our students,” he said.

Social media

Community colleges need to harness social media not just as a way to ensure effective learning, Entz said, but as an overall communications strategy.

“The issue of communications is becoming more essential with each passing tweet,” he said. “This is not only a marketing issue, but it affects the entire college – from how faculty communicates with their students to how admissions communicate with prospects.

“How do we engage our students today across multiple platforms and in ways that allow us to interact more effectively with them?”

Community college officials are attempting to integrate Facebook, Twitter, and user-generated content into marketing efforts, too, Entz said.

“How can you have your students market for you?” Entz asked. “We all know that people trust people before companies, and user-generated content is your own students talking directly to your prospects and other students and parents.”

Officials are working to create trust and transparency among user-generated content, he said.

“I believe we are all trying to keep up with this new media and find effective ways to use and measure it,” Entz added.

Alumni involvement

Community colleges face a unique challenge in engaging alumni due to the fact that the two-year school is often not the final education source, Entz said.

“This makes a community college one step removed – or back – in their alumni lineage,” he said. “This gap makes it difficult to for us to capitalize on school pride that so often leads to alumni involvement and financial support.”

Another challenge with alumni allegiance is concurrent enrollment at multiple colleges and universities, Entz said.

“An example is that a student might have 30 hours from Butler, but during this same time they accumulated 20 hours from Wichita State and perhaps 15 hours done online from another university,” he said. “This demonstrates the growing philosophy of today’s students to find the quickest route to be marketable … and not necessarily concerned about attaining a degree.”

Despite the varied interests and educational paths of students, traditional student activities are available for students who seek them.

“As a student at a community college there are many leadership opportunities that I wouldn’t have at the larger universities,” Zrubek said. “Butler students have the ability to work and get involved in positions that require a high level of responsibility.”

Destination education

Another community college myth is that the schools are simply transfer schools.

“There is no longer a linear pipeline that moves students from high school to community colleges to a baccalaureate institution,” Entz said.

“A bachelor’s degree is not required for many skilled occupations – and earning one isn’t an immediate goal for many college students.”

Instead, Entz said, many students are looking to gain marketable skills as efficiently and affordably as possible. Transferring to a four-year school or obtaining a two-year degree often are not goals for skill-seeking students.

“Only about 25 percent of our students report the intent of transferring to another school,” George said. “The majority come to us for specific training needs or for academic or economic reasons. Many of our students are enrolled in a university and taking classes from another community college in the same semester.”

Community colleges today

There were 11.5 million students enrolled in 1,195 community colleges in January 2008, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. Of these students, 41 percent were enrolled full-time, and 77 percent held full-time jobs. Compared to their counterparts, two-year schools represent a bargain. Annual tuition and fees at public community colleges average $2,361, which is less than 39 percent of the $6,185 cost of the average public four-year school.

“I have absolutely not missed out because I’m at a community college,” Butler fine arts major Cameron Bedell said. “The classes have been a challenge to me. Friends have told me they go to school where the classes have hundreds of people. Here, you have no more than 50 people at most. There’s opportunity for interaction with other students and the teacher.”

You can find Butler on Facebook, Twitter, or check out their main and Pure Learning Power Web sites.

Photo credit: Images courtesy of Butler Community College

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