How will community college funding changes by the Lege change said colleges' student recruitment angles? The Trib looks at Vernon College. That said, questions remain, including about whether CC's don't need to downsize more, especially the ones like Vernon in more rural areas, and whether or not they need to downsize yet more with the Lege's focus on outcomes-based education. The piece does finish by hinting at the vo-tech angle such colleges need to address, but could have hit it harder.
Also, the piece looks at Black potential students as well as White ones. Missing? Hispanics, more than 30 percent of the population in Vernon and more than 20 percent in the surrounding area. Indeed, the word "Hispanic" is nowhere in the story. Right there, I can tell you the story is a fail, and if it reflects where Vernon College is at, its plan for changing enrollment declines will also be a failure.
The community college of my community college district recently got a federal grant to help bolster Hispanic educational outcomes. Did Vernon College get such a grant? Apply for one but not get it? Not apply for one? Not know of one? None of that's in the story.
Anybody who looks at Texas High Plains demographics know that rural counties there not only face the "Great Hollowing Out" of continuing population decline, but have that problem partially lessened by a "Great Hispanic Replacement."
The reporter is herself a minority, but neither Black nor Hispanic. She graduated Northwestern. Chicago has at least a few Hispanics; this should have been on her radar.
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