Free tuition for students from Coppin State University's
Coppin State University's announcement that it will offer free tuition to students transferring from BCCC is yet another positive step— one that moves our state closer to the goal of free or affordable access to all University System of Maryland institutions.
However, in a state where over 500,000 adults are without a high school diploma (20 percent of them in Baltimore), quality — including proper funding for highly skilled, full-time teaching staff and the programs students need — is just as important as access.
Here in Baltimore City, BCCC, which is operated by the state, holds tremendous promise, as was pointed out in a September 2016 report from the University of Baltimore’s Schaefer Center for Public Policy. Despite this, thousands of Baltimore City’s brightest minds are already paying more in nonresident fees to attend the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), thanks to CCBC’s greater number of program choices and exceptional learning outcomes.
If BCCC and community-based adult education providers (such as South Baltimore Learning Center and Strong City Baltimore’s Adult Learning Center) are to maximize BCCC’s great potential — ensuring teens and adults will enter without the need for first-year remedial classes — our city, state and federal governments must prioritize funding for adult education. They could look for guidance to nearby Washington, D.C., for instance, where the per-student cost averages about $10,000 per student. The per-student funding cost in Maryland is inadequate at about $800.
Dedicated funding would ensure adult educators are supported with the same full-time salaries, benefits and resources as our pre-K through 12 educators, instead of being part-time adjuncts doing excellent work with insufficient compensation. It would ensure 21st century classroom facilities and curriculum implementation that would produce college- and career-ready young adults and serve as springboards for 21st century jobs, a central component of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (which provides much of the current grant funding to community colleges and community-based education organizations for adult education programs).
baltimoresun.com
However, in a state where over 500,000 adults are without a high school diploma (20 percent of them in Baltimore), quality — including proper funding for highly skilled, full-time teaching staff and the programs students need — is just as important as access.
Here in Baltimore City, BCCC, which is operated by the state, holds tremendous promise, as was pointed out in a September 2016 report from the University of Baltimore’s Schaefer Center for Public Policy. Despite this, thousands of Baltimore City’s brightest minds are already paying more in nonresident fees to attend the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), thanks to CCBC’s greater number of program choices and exceptional learning outcomes.
If BCCC and community-based adult education providers (such as South Baltimore Learning Center and Strong City Baltimore’s Adult Learning Center) are to maximize BCCC’s great potential — ensuring teens and adults will enter without the need for first-year remedial classes — our city, state and federal governments must prioritize funding for adult education. They could look for guidance to nearby Washington, D.C., for instance, where the per-student cost averages about $10,000 per student. The per-student funding cost in Maryland is inadequate at about $800.
Dedicated funding would ensure adult educators are supported with the same full-time salaries, benefits and resources as our pre-K through 12 educators, instead of being part-time adjuncts doing excellent work with insufficient compensation. It would ensure 21st century classroom facilities and curriculum implementation that would produce college- and career-ready young adults and serve as springboards for 21st century jobs, a central component of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (which provides much of the current grant funding to community colleges and community-based education organizations for adult education programs).
baltimoresun.com
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