The People's Colleges
Mississippi's community/junior college system began in the 1920s when a few agricultural high schools started offering college courses to rural students. Today, it represents an education force that is helping redefine the state's economy.

By Debbie Stringer

Mississippi’s two-year public college system is the oldest in the nation. But it doesn’t act like an old fogey.
In fact, community and junior colleges play dynamic roles in preparing students for employment in the state’s 21st century economy. And they do it in ways their founders could never have envisioned.

To learn more about community and junior colleges, Today in Mississippi interviewed Dr. Eric Clark, executive director of the Mississippi State Board for Community and Junior Colleges, in Jackson. Clark, a former legislator who served three terms as secretary of state, attended Jones County Junior College and taught history and government there for over seven years. His responses to our questions begin below.

In your opinion, what do Mississippi’s community and junior colleges do best?
Our community and junior colleges are one of Mississippi’s greatest treasures. About 70,000 of our students are taking courses for credit. Another 160,000 are taking workforce training to prepare them for specific jobs. Then we provide adult basic education and GED preparation.

Altogether, more than 275,000 Mississippians—nearly 10 percent of our entire population—take classes from a community college every year. More than 97 percent of all our students are residents of Mississippi.

How does workforce training make Mississippi more competitive in attracting new jobs?
The community and junior colleges’ workforce training programs are essential to preparing our citizens for 21st century jobs. As a Mississippi history teacher, I have often spoken of the three periods of our state’s economic history. Up until about 1940, most people made their living off the land—farming, in timber, or servicing citizens who worked on the farm or in the woods. Between 1940 and the 1980s, we attracted low-wage, low-capital industries typified by the garment factories in nearly every town. We Mississippians did not have to be educated to work on the farm or in the woods or in the garment plant.

Now, our citizens must be educated to attract and keep new jobs in today’s economy. Our colleges provide training that prepare Mississippians for existing jobs, as well as for the jobs of the future. For example, Itawamba Community College and Northeast Community College are very actively involved in training people to work at the Toyota plant being built near Tupelo.

Mississippi created the first community college system in the country. Does Mississippi have any other significant “firsts” relating to community colleges?
Yes. In 1994, Mississippi was the first state in the nation to launch an All State Academic Team to recognize the best community college students. Our 15 colleges administer this program in conjunction with Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year college students, which is headquartered in Jackson.

In 2000, Mississippi Community Colleges started the Mississippi Virtual Community College (MSVCC), in which students can take classes on-line via the Internet. At the beginning, students signed up for about 1,300 classes. Now about 20,000 students take approximately 40,000 on-line classes each semester. MSVCC has gained national recognition and has served as a model for numerous other states.

Last year we created the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges Sports Hall of Fame, to recognize our best athletes who continued to make contributions to their communities and state after college. The Sports Hall of Fame is located at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson.

Has there been a significant increase in the number of nontraditional students at community colleges? How do the colleges serve their needs?
In the past 20 years, the number of community college students 25 years and older has increased from 11,300 to 23,500 (more than 100 percent). There are several reasons. Community college classes are available close to your home, no matter where you live in Mississippi. Community college classes are offered at night, on weekends, and on-line, which makes it convenient for adults with full-time jobs. Finally, community college classes are inexpensive, costing on average less than half the price of taking the same classes at a public university.

What is the total budget for all community and junior colleges in the state?
The overall estimated budget for community and junior college this year is $518,368,842. Of this amount, $231,156,523, or 44.6 percent, comes from state support. Community and junior colleges are budgeted to receive $125,888,174, or 24.3 percent, from tuition and fees, and $46,009,510, or 8.9 percent, from local county support. Federal funds contribute approximately 8.7 percent to the budget.

Are there any new projects or expansions in the works?
With the support of the legislature, we have started a new pilot project this year to quickly produce more licensed practical nurses. Under this program, high school seniors who want to be nurses can “dual enroll” and take nursing courses taught by a local community college. These students work in this program during their last year of high school and their first semester of college. By Christmas of their college freshmen year, they are prepared to take national nurses’ board exams and, if they pass, go right to work as licensed practical nurses. This pilot project is being successfully tried in four schools this year and will be expanded to five additional schools next school year.

Our community colleges have an aggressive dropout recovery program to encourage people to re-enter school if they dropped out years ago. We provide adult basic education and GED preparation classes to help adults to come back to school and prepare themselves to get better, higher-paying jobs. Last year nearly 6,000 Mississippians received a GED degree and more than 7,800 GED holders went on to enroll as regular community college students.

This year the legislature appropriated $1.5 million—$100,000 for each of our 15 community colleges—to increase our dropout recovery efforts.

Do you have a personal message for high school graduates who may be considering attending a community college?
We are a great bargain and we can make your life better! The average cost of tuition and required fees for a whole year at one of our state’s community colleges is only $1,722. Nationally, the average high school graduate earns $31,500 a year, the average community college graduate earns $40,600 a year, and the average four-year college graduate earns $50,900 a year. Each year thousands of Mississippi students earn two-year technical degrees that prepare them to go directly into skilled, high-paying jobs.

Of the students who begin at community college and then go on to a university, on average their grades in their junior and senior years are as good as or better than the grades of the students who start at the university.

What's new at community and junior colleges?

Here are updates compiled from some of their Web sites:

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College will host the first-ever Mississippi Bowl, the state’s only community college bowl game, on Dec. 7. The state championship community/junior college team will meet the highest nationally ranked available team in the nation.

Coahoma Community College’s 2007 fall enrollment reached 2,165 students, a record number in the school’s 59-year history. Dr. Vivian Presley, president, attributes the growth to CCC’s expansion of its online, evening and dual enrollment programs.

Jones County Junior College, Pearl River Community College and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College were recently awarded $7.25 million in state and federal grants to create centers of excellence for training workers in advanced metal trades.

Plans are in place for a new $2.7 million academic facility at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s George County Center, in Lucedale. MGCCC also recently opened a new $2.4 million Early Childhood Education Center at its Jefferson Davis Campus for students pursuing a career in childcare.

East Mississippi Community College will provide workforce training for PACCAR’s new $400 million engine manufacturing and technology facility, which will begin production in Columbus in late 2009. EMCC also was selected as one of the “Ten Top Schools for Funeral Service Education” by The Southern Funeral Director in its May 2007 education issue.

Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Community Arts Series, the only community college program of its kind in the state, presents performances by world-renowned artists and is a sponsor of the annual Natchez Literacy and Cinema Celebration.

Colleges, co-ops partner to train electric linemen

When he graduates from Pearl River Community College this month, Ryan Bland of Kiln, a 33-year-old bucket truck operator, will become Coast Electric Power Association’s first employee to earn the Utility Lineman Technology associate degree.

Bland spent about two years working through lineman training courses at his workplace and basic academic courses at PRCC to obtain the degree.

“It’s been a blessing,” he said, referring to the opportunity to pursue a college education while working at the electric cooperative. “It gives me a better understanding of what I’m doing in the field.”

Bland, a three-year employee who works on a line crew, believes his education will improve his chances of advancement into management positions at Coast Electric. “I knew I didn’t want to be climbing in and out of a bucket for 30 years,” he said.

He plans to transfer to the University of Southern Mississippi in the fall to continue work toward a bachelor’s degree in Construction Management.

Bland is part of the next generation of electric linemen being trained today through innovative community college-based programs initiated by electric power associations and electrical contractors in the state.

The goal is to meet the growing demand for qualified, knowledgeable workers to fill positions rapidly being vacated by retiring electric linemen.

Two types of programs are available: the 16-week Apprentice Electric Lineman Training certificate program and the Utility Lineman Technology associate degree program. Both programs are open to students age 18 and older who pass a drug test and a basic aptitude test and have a high school diploma or GED.

Lineman training program
The Apprentice Electric Lineman Training program is offered by Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, East Mississippi Community College and, beginning in August, Holmes Community College.

The program was developed to prepare qualified applicants for immediate employment as linemen with utilities and contractors. Participants finish the four-month program with required certifications, a commercial driver’s license, basic math and computer skills, an understanding of electricity fundamentals and specialized skills that would take some 18 months to acquire on the job without schooling.

Lucedale-based Singing River Electric Power Association partnered with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in 1999 to begin lineman training at the college’s George County Center, in Lucedale. The lineman program became the first in the Southeast to partner an educational institution with business in training line workers.

Six other electric power associations are partners in the MGCCC program: Dixie EPA, in Laurel; Magnolia EPA, McComb; Pearl River Valley EPA, Columbia; South Mississippi EPA, Hattiesburg; Southern Pine EPA, Taylorsville; and Twin County EPA, Hollandale.

East Mississippi Community College has conducted a lineman training program in partnership with East Mississippi Electric Power Association (EMEPA) since 2006. The certificate program is part of EMCC’s Career and Technical Education offerings.
EMCC’s fourth lineman training session is under way at its Scooba campus. The program currently is offered only in spring and fall semesters. “We’re trying to expand it to a year-round program in some form,” said Doyle Perkins, program manager and a retired EMEPA line foreman.

Every student who graduated from past sessions received a job offer, Perkins added.

“We’ve gotten some good employees out of the school. We’ve hired some out of each class,” said Allan Hogan, loss control specialist for EMEPA.

EMEPA, 4-County Electric Power Association, several electrical contractors and a municipal electric utility serve on the program’s advisory council.

Holmes Community College is accepting a limited number of applicants now for its first lineman training class, to begin Aug. 18 at the Goodman campus. Yazoo Valley Electric Power Association is playing a key role in establishing the training program and provided trucks, utility poles and other materials needed for the initial training setup. The college will provide instructors for classes in basic electricity, math and other subjects.

The training is intensive and designed to expose students to a wide variety of real-world challenges in a short period of time. “They’ll do every day [at Holmes] what they’d do once a month working on a crew here. It’s kind of like boot camp,” said Ken Smith, manager of General Services at Yazoo Valley Electric Power Association.

HCC plans to offer lineman training twice yearly, in the fall and in the spring, as a workforce development program.

Associate degree program
The Utility Electric Lineman Technology degree program is offered at Pearl River Community College, in partnership with Coast Electric. Students take academic college courses in addition to hands-on competency training, including pole climbing and commercial truck driving, to earn an Associate of Science degree.

Upon completion, students may transfer to the University of Southern Mississippi to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Construction Management.

“It’s the first lineman training program in the state set up exactly like that,” said Rodney Beech, safety and training coordinator for Coast Electric and an instructor for the program. “Our linemen have the opportunity to receive college credit toward their degree, just by coming to work and completing all the required competencies and the paperwork that verifies their skills.

“By May, we’ll have 30-something [Coast Electric employees] registered at PRCC working toward their degree,” added Beech, who recently earned certification as a college instructor.

PRCC plans to expand the program to include instruction in all aspects of electric utility operations. The goal, said PRCC’s Dale Miller, will be to create a regional training center for the electric utility industry.

Students interested in any of the lineman training programs can get details from participating community colleges.