Community College system help!

March 9, 2012 10:30 AM

Need help understanding the community college funding models. I have recently heard about the 'Contract Education' model at community colleges in CA where you pay the school for an accredited course or program to be taught off site. Does anyone know how this process works and how expensive it is? i have searched online and cant find the info. Thanks!
posted by tessalations999 to Education (4 answers total)

I found this, which reads, in part:

In the survey conducted by Lynch, Palmer, and Grubb (1991), ninety-four percent of community colleges reported providing some form of contract education. Employer funds averaged forty-two percent of total funds supporting contract education. For other evidence that contract education has expanded at the sub-baccalaureate level, see Bowers and Swain (1992): Based on CPS data from 1983 and 1991, the fraction of individuals with "some college" who received formal on-the-job training increased from 15.1% to 20.4%.

The cost probably depends hugely on the type of course being taught and the region of California it's being taught in.
posted by rtha at 10:37 AM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

Not sure about CA, but in my state there is non-credit and credit. Non-credit is also known as Workforce and is often paid for by employers on a case by case basis. It is supposed to be self-sufficient. Credit is the traditional stuff and funded by tuition and state dollars. In terms of sheer headcount, it's about half and half credit and non-credit. This terminology might help you search for more details at least.
posted by idb at 12:01 PM on March 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

Jumping in to say that at the two universities where I've worked, it's been called Continuing Education, Corporate Education or Corporate Training. And echoing what idb said, it was required to break-even at minimum. For many universities (especially business schools) it can be a big money-maker.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 12:14 PM on March 9, 2012

I don't know if this is helpful to you -- it's not exactly what you're talking about -- but I ran into an interesting program six or seven years ago when I was investigating technical training for teachers at a private middle school in California.

Foothill College's Krause Center proposed an arrangement whereby our teachers to get continuing ed credit through their institute for classes I taught at my school. I'd have been able to customize the training to what my teachers needed, and get them credit for doing it.

I don't know how the funding would have worked; since I didn't have a master's at the time, I wasn't eligible, and didn't pursue it. But if you've identified a potential instructor, and if credit is relevant to you, something similar might work for your organization.
posted by tangerine at 1:41 PM on March 11, 2012