Immigrants and Community College Tuition Costs: What's Fair?

The West Coast is an area filled with fertile land perfect for wineries, which is why the winemaking industry has become big business for western farmers. Many community colleges are acknowledging the success of the wine-making industry by offering degree and certification programs for aspiring winemakers. While one Washington college has been duly noted for its contribution to winemaking in the area, it is not the only school to offer the necessary training for employment in this lucrative industry.

Winemaking 101

According to the Huffington Post, Washington has the second-highest number of wineries than any other state in the nation. It also ranks third in overall wine production. With this distinction, it makes sense that one of the biggest winemaking degrees in the country would also be located at a community college in Washington. However, Walla Walla Community College in Walla Walla, Washington, isn’t the only school to capitalize on the need for trained workers in the wine industry. Other schools in the state, as well as in Oregon, have also provided training programs for local wineries.

The art of winemaking is a complex one that begins with planting the grapes and ends with marketing the finished product. Throughout the experience, training is required for grape growing and winemaking, also referred to as enology. Once the wine is ready, workers in the industry must learn wine tasting and marketing products to the hospitality industry. While the work was often passed down through generations of families,

Amid serious issues facing California community colleges today, possible reform is on the horizon. A new bill has passed California state legislators and is currently waiting on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown. The proposed legislation would bring some consistency to the California community college system and require schools in the state to focus on success and completion rates as much as they focus on enrollment and budgets. While the governor hasn’t dropped any clues on how he will go on this new law, those who drafted the legislation are hopeful that it could bring much-needed improvements to the California system if passed.

Student Success Task Force

Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, drafted Bill 1456, or the Student Success Act of 2012. The senator used information compiled by the California Community College Student Success Task Force to create his new bill. According to iJournal, the 20-member task force included faculty, staff, students, and external stakeholders in the community college system.

The task force spent seven months examining how to improve success in community colleges while boosting achievement for underserved students. At the end of the year, the task force presented its findings to stakeholders to get additional input on the best ways to utilize this information effectively to improve the community college system in California. After the hearings, the Board of Governors adopted select recommendations to draft the final bill. These recommendations included:

Teach Basic Skills—Many community college students in California are first-generation students who

The Aspen Institute recently released its top 10 finalists for the 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The award, which enjoyed its inaugural year last year, has quickly become the gold standard for community colleges across the country. The 10 schools on this list have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the areas of completion rates, learning outcomes, workforce preparedness, and success of at-risk students. These 10 colleges were selected from more than 1,000 institutions that have received consistently high marks in these four areas throughout the past academic year.

The Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence

The Aspen Institute initiated its award program last year, in response to calls by the White House to raise the bar on higher education. Community colleges serve as a practical place for many students, from those graduating from high school unable to afford a four-year university to professionals looking for additional career training. With so much focus placed on the role of community colleges over the past four years, the Aspen Institute established a plan to recognize and reward those schools that set the example and the standard for the rest of the community colleges nationwide.

The Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence recognizes one winner each year, as well as four finalists. Those chosen by the Aspen Institute will split a prize package of $1 million. Last year’s winner, and the first recipient of the Aspen Prize, was Valencia Community College in Orlando,

In a constant effort to improve the quality of academics for every student that enrolls on their campus, community colleges from coast to coast are on the lookout for new programs to add to their course catalog. This year, there are a number of new offerings at schools around the country, from those that celebrate the inner artist to practical programs designed to give graduates an upper hand in the workplace. Check out these new degree programs coming soon to a community college near you.

Kentucky Community College Offering Vet Tech Degree

In response to a community that is highly agricultural, Owensboro Community and Technical College will be adding a new veterinary technician degree program to its roster. This program will be the first degree in veterinary technology offered by a community college in Kentucky. The program, which will be funded by a $475,000 grant to Daviess and Hancock Counties, will fill a vital need in the state. According to the Lane Report, veterinary technicians are considered the fastest-growing occupation in Kentucky currently. With only two four-year schools offering degrees in this field, there is a definite need to train up more professionals to handle the increasing employment need in the state.

“This veterinary program will be an outstanding addition to the curriculum offered at the Owensboro Community and Technical College,” Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear told the Lane Report. “With a strong economic foundation in agriculture, western Kentucky needs qualified veterinary professionals, and