Abstract:
This study investigates the impact of Southwest Texas Junior College’s (SWTJC) participation in the Ford Foundation’s Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) from 1994 to 2002. Fifteen years after the program ended, how embedded were a major foundation’s program initiatives on SWTJC students, organizational structure, and economic development? The Ford Foundation’s two overarching objectives for RCCI were increasing access to higher education and building regional economies in high poverty regions (Appalachia, Four Corners, Tribal High Plains, and Texas Border). The findings confirm the Ford Foundation’s belief that rural community colleges are powerful tools to reverse longstanding trends of rural Americans living in persistent poverty. In 1990, prior to SWTJC’s participation in the RCCI, all 11 counties served by SWTJC had lived with persistent poverty rates of greater than 30% including rates nearing 50%. By 2010, seven of the eleven counties had recorded double-digit reductions in their poverty rates. As SWTJC lifted 11.2% of its population out of poverty from 1990 to 2010, the United States recorded a 1.6% increase in the number of people living in poverty. SWTJC provides services to an 11-county state-assigned area that covers 16,712 square miles. A quirk in Texas law created a “in-taxing district” and an “out-of-taxing district” for all 50 Texas community college districts. I the case of SWTJC, those students living within the taxing district pay 61% less than those students living outside of the taxing district. Not surprisingly, the author found higher rates of attendance and completion success in the counties where tuition was lower, and Pell grants went farther. Despite the financial obstacles created by Texas lawmakers, access to higher education increased meaningfully. From 1994 to 2013, fall enrollment increased by 72%, unduplicated headcount increased by 54%, and contact credit hours increased by 55%, with 66% of contact hours delivered to students living outside of the taxing district. The findings illustrate how relatively small investments in planning and activity grants, and coaching to provide specialized personnel and training activities focused on capacity building and implementing a data-driven, inclusive strategic planning framework has the real potential to change lives for the better.
