GUEST COLUMN: Community colleges' open access is not a scam, it is an investment

In light of the recent accusations of our Hollywood sweethearts’ university admissions scandal, it is important to note the intentions and outcomes of community colleges.

Millions of American students attend local community colleges, from small, rural towns, because they want to work hard to earn an appropriate wage to best support their families and communities. As Brian Rosenberg’s February 2019 “Chronicle of Higher Education” publication states, community colleges do more social good than the work of ultra-prestigious universities whose students already have an array of illustrious futures from which to choose.

Rosenberg asserts that we are living in a “gilded age” of higher education, “one marked by an increasing concentration of wealth and prestige among a small group of elite institutions and a growing disparity between those colleges and the rest of American higher education.”

If the recent scandals have shown us anything, it is that inequality within higher education is growing. We are seeing billionaire philanthropists giving billions of dollars to universities, that already have billion-dollar funds, to provide education to the most privileged students in our country, arguably the world.

Of the slightly more than 100 gifts, totaling more than $100 million, made to American universities since 1967, more than 80 percent have gone to institutions with endowments of more than $1 billion. Based on a 2017 Insider Higher Ed report, we find that most community colleges will not reach their enrollment goals, yet Notre Dame’s acceptance rate is just 18 percent.

According to the Council for Advancement in Secondary Education, the average community college foundation endowment stands at $7 million. The average community college acceptance rate is 82 percent. As an open-access institution that provides economic and civic support to thousands of students each year, your Sauk Valley Community College’s acceptance rate stands at a proud 100 percent.

Instead of cheating, paying, and bribing upward of $500,000 for entry into prestigious universities that cost in excess of $74,000 per year for 4 years, for one student to be surrounded by other like-minded and privileged students, to continue to live illustrious lives, those funds – totaling roughly $796,000 – could have paid for 331 semesters of tuition at a community college. That is 2 years of education for roughly 82 students.

These 82 students, who most likely come from low-income households, and are the first generation in their family to attend college, would have had an opportunity to break the generational poverty cycle and learn their way to a well-paying job. These students would have had the opportunity to change the narrative of their future, their family’s future, and our community’s future.

Community college students throughout America are currently changing their future. As a first-generation college student from a low-income household, I understand their struggle. I never dreamed of the life I currently live, whereby I am an active volunteer in my community and work for a public institution whose ethical values respect the worth and dignity of all people; stands for integrity and fairness; and encourages responsibility, accountability, and persistence in a caring and supportive environment.

It was with the support of scholarship donors in my community that I attended my local community college. My scholarships totaled $1,500, which covered my first semester. Today, $1,500 doesn’t cover a single course at Notre Dame. I would ask those who invest billions of dollars in billion-dollar exclusive universities, how about investing in your community college that supports those who have the power to change their future and your community’s future?

For those who may have cheated and bribed to admit their children into prestigious homogeneous universities, why not challenge your children to learn at a diverse community college that does more for your community’s economic and civic future?

Lori Cortez is dean of institutional advancement at Sauk Valley Community College.