Friday, September 2, 2022
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MacLennan
Rick MacLennan firmly believes community college remains the first and best hope for people who thought they could never access higher education.
But the new chancellor for the Ventura County Community College District knows from his years in education that the road to a college degree has become more difficult.
His goal? To help remove some of those obstacles.
With the new school year here—classes began Aug. 12— MacLennan discussed trends in today’s educational landscape.
He said he’s watched housing and the price of tuition at four-year colleges rise, often out of reach for many. He’s seen the effects the pandemic has had on students, and he’s also concerned by the widening gaps in the skills students need to compete in an evolving job market.
Whether it’s a financial challenge, a problem with housing or a lack of technology, MacLennan said, the pandemic led many students to drop out of college. And he’s worried those students won’t return to complete their degrees.
“It put a stress on many of them to the point that they had to exit,” he said.
MacLennan is less than 70 days into his new job as leader of the three-campus district that includes roughly 31,000 students at Oxnard, Ventura and Moorpark colleges. MacLennan replaced Greg Gillespie, who retired.
To bring students back, MacLennan said, the district had to make it easier for people to attend class from home. He said the college district also had to accommodate those who didn’t have access to the internet.
He said they also learned that finding ways to return to in-person learning “safely and quickly as possible” would be key to getting students to return.
MacLennan said higher education is seeing a widening gender gap. More women are enrolled in college than men.
“(In California), we have 57% female enrollment and 41.64% male enrollment. . . . Ventura County is going to be a microcosm of that,” said Dianne McKay, board chair of the Ventura County Community College District board of trustees.
Both MacLennan and McKay said there is an issue with a growing number of job seekers who don’t have the skills they need to compete in today’s workforce.
“Work has become more technologically complicated, more intricate,” MacLennan said. “Baby boomers are bailing out of the economy, and those who are staying are experiencing job-skill demands that they are not prepared for.”
To complicate matters, many students have to hold down a job. Community colleges have always served a lower-income population, making work an obstacle for those who want to pursue an education.
McKay said taking the leap to become a full-time student seems impossible for some, prompting the district to offer financial aid and encourage students to complete their education to secure a career that pays a livable wage.
Housing and food insecurity especially weigh on students, McKay said.
“You can’t have a successful education if those basic needs aren’t met,” she said. “I think that’s the one thing the community colleges have been trying to respond to.”
Ventura College recently won a grant for $62 million to build 95 apartments on campus. McKay said there is a need for student housing at community colleges and, if it can be made available, it will help people make the transition from part-time to full-time students.
She said she remembers 2019’s Assembly Bill 302, a proposed state legislation that would allow homeless students to park and sleep in campus parking lots.
“While that initially seemed heartfelt, others like me said, ‘Is this really the best we can do for our students?’” McKay said. Based on similar feedback, the proposed bill was later dropped.
California community colleges are tuition-free, which halves the cost of four-year universities.
MacLennan and McKay said the skill-based classes at community colleges provide a wealth of opportunity.
“A decade ago, we really had to cut back on those services because we were in such tough budget times,” McKay said. “And now we’re in a much better place. Hopefully we can offer classes on high school campuses so students of all ages don’t have to drive to a campus to take an ESL class or a computer skills class.”
Community colleges must be of the same quality as universities in order for students to transfer, MacLennan said. That includes hiring knowledgeable professors.
That’s made more difficult by the popular trend by colleges to hire adjunct faculty—or part-time lecturers—to teach classes.
Untenured, part-time lecturers are used by colleges because they are typically only paid for instructional hours.
Many of those seeking jobs in higher education—almost all of whom have master’s degrees and doctorates—are often faced with low-paying, entry-level positions.
To make ends meet, adjunct faculty have to teach at multiple colleges, earning them the nickname “freeway flyers” for the distances they have to travel each week.
McKay said she believes freeway flying educators are a benefit, even if their teaching is a form of community service.
“That’s the beauty of it. We can have someone who works during the day in a specific field and then teach to our students,” she said. “They’re really going to learn from someone who does something day in and day out.”
The past few years have triggered big shifts, but MacLennan said the district is optimistic about the future.
“We are the most noble segment of education in our country,” he said. “We pay attention to businesses and industry, and we’re anchored in our communities.”
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