As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to accelerate changes in the labor market, community and technical colleges are increasingly seen as essential institutions to provide workforce education. While two-year institutions have the reach, scale and infrastructure to deliver the upskilling that will be needed in years ahead, policymakers are challenged with a lack of data on workforce education. To address this information gap, Opportunity America, in collaboration with the Lumina Foundation and Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, recently published a report on noncredit and credit workforce education programs using survey responses from more than 600 public two-year institutions.
Student characteristics: More than half of students at the community colleges that responded to the survey are enrolled in for-credit or noncredit job-focused programs, with an estimated 3.7 million students (35%) enrolled in noncredit programs. Additionally, noncredit programs have a larger share of older adult learners and students enrolled in occupation-focused programs than credit programs. The report also notes that community colleges collect little data on noncredit students, such as race and ethnicity, making it difficult to determine how well these programs are equitably serving learners.
Program characteristics: Both credit and noncredit programs are increasingly preparing students for industry certifications and 36% of colleges’ employer partners provide on-the-job work experience. Furthermore, while noncredit fields of study vary by college and state, health care is the most common field overall.
Transfer: The findings reveal that very few colleges provide transition opportunities from noncredit to credit education and less than 20% of students make this transition. The report noted that articulation agreements between credit and noncredit programs and increasing support for adult learners who return to college can improve transition opportunities.
Financing and accountability: Currently, noncredit workforce programs are ineligible for federal aid and three-quarters of noncredit workforce programs are shorter than 150 clock hours, excluding them from bills like the JOBS Act aimed at expanding workforce program funding. Therefore, students and employers largely cover the cost of noncredit programs. The report also details that most colleges use employer input and labor market data to assess noncredit workforce program quality, but rarely utilize employment outcomes.
Based on these findings, the authors suggest that state lawmakers undertake the following recommendations:
- Improve data collection on noncredit workforce programs
- Allocate funding based on programs’ labor market alignment and employment outcomes
- Use incentives, data and frameworks to create pathways between noncredit and credit workforce programs
Read the report here or view the Opportunity America’s virtual release here.
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