Community colleges are at the leading edge in workforce training, the use of educational technology, and flexibility in responding to changing student needs. As a group, they are America's most exciting colleges. They know their communities and their business; they know they are there to serve their communities as teaching and service institutions. Community colleges often are more vital to the social and economic health of their states and communities than are the local research universities.

Robert H. Atwell
President Emeritus
American Council on Education

I often say that community colleges are becoming America's new graduate schools because as I go across this country and meet with community college people, they keep telling me they have more and more students with baccalaureate degrees. These students are coming to community colleges to get a more technical kind of education. Not that the four-year education was not helpful, but it didn't give them the skills they need to obtain a job that pays enough to provide the quality of life they want. In the past, people went to graduate school to get that capstone experience that led to employment. Now they're going to community colleges to get it.

Willard R. Daggett
President
International Center for
Leadership in Education

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