Dive Brief:
- Rowan College at Gloucester County is looking to change the paradigm of community colleges, with expansion plans that seek to transform the traditional commuter school into a residential campus.
- The plans, still in the infancy stage, would add seven new buildings, including student apartments, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- Partnerships with the local hospital system to expand health programs at the school as well as provide a new facility open to the public, and additions for retail space are all on the table in the new proposal.
Dive Insight:
If there is one element missing from community college campuses that defines the four year experience for many students, it is the sense of attachment to the campus, due to the commuting nature of the student body. As the conversation around community colleges and their role in the overall higher education complex grows — and as four-year institutions begin to create models for certificate programs and career and technical education offerings which were once left to the two-year institutions — community colleges are becoming more creative in how they attract students to campus.
Aside from the need to attract more students, the Rowan plan will aim to increase both community impact as well as commerce with its proposed public health facility and retail shops. Also, a partnership with the local hospital system is exactly the kind of collaboration that higher education as a whole can leverage for both investment in the college as well as for workforce development and career pipelines for students.