Episode 11: The Real Cost of Community College

Today I’m joined by a very special guest, Jenna Sheffield from Northwest Florida State College, for an important conversation about the future of public higher education.

We dive into the realities of college funding, rising costs, student access, and the challenges public colleges face in today’s economy. From affordability and community impact to the role education plays in shaping future generations, this episode explores why investing in higher education matters now more than ever.

Whether you’re a student, parent, educator, or simply curious about the future of college education, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hello and welcome to the Brutiful Chaos with Kiki podcast. Hello and welcome back to the podcast. Today's episode is one I've really been looking forward to because it shines a light on something that impacts so many families, but doesn't always get the attention it deserves. Public college funding, specifically community colleges. As someone who's been deeply involved in education through PTO leadership, I've seen firsthand how funding or the lack thereof it can shape opportunities for students. And while we often hear about the K-12 funding challenges, community colleges are quietly navigating their own financial hurdles while serving some of the most diverse and hardworking student populations out there. Today I'm joined by a very special guest, Jenna Sheffield. She serves as the vice president of academic affairs at Northwest Florida State College, where she helps lead and shape academic programs that impact students across our community. I'm excited to have her here to help us understand how funding really works behind the scenes and what it means for students, families, and our communities. So let's dive right in. So, Jenna, how is a community college primarily funded and what percentage typically comes from state support versus tuition or grants?

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Sure. So what some people don't often realize is that community colleges rely very, very heavily on state appropriations. So it depends on the state, but typically around 50% of the overall support that a community college gets is from state appropriations. Maybe around 15% may come from grants, contracts, federal money. And then the rest is going to be if there are any auxiliary services that you're making money through or your student tuition and fees.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

That breakdown is so important because I think many people assume tuition covers most of the cost. But in reality, community colleges rely heavily on state funding to keep education affordable. So the next question I have is what are the biggest financial challenges community colleges face right now?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Sure. So I think one of the biggest challenges, honestly, is in connection to infrastructure. So just keeping your campuses up and running. So you can imagine that those costs continue to go up. But in many states, such as Florida, we have not been able to raise tuition. That's a governor's decision for many years. If you're relying on state appropriations and a student tuition, you it's difficult to necessarily catch up with the increase of cost that we're seeing with inflation. So I would say another hurdle is enrollment, right? Community colleges need to get enrollment in order to get the revenue up where it needs to be. But in many cases, especially when the economy is in a good spot, people are going out into the workforce and not necessarily getting their education, and therefore enrollment is going to pose a problem for schools that are trying to make money.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

So it sounds like we have pretty similar issues with K-12 funding as we do in college funding. Obviously, not the job part of it, but the enrollment part of it, because enrollment equals money. So on the topic of money, how does funding directly impact the programs and opportunities available to students?

SPEAKER_00 3:25

So unfortunately, we need money to do just about anything. And part of that is being able to pay a reasonable wage to our faculty and our staff who are providing these support services to students. So ultimately, if we don't get funding, um not only can we should we be concerned about infrastructure, um, but we should be concerned about even the quality of education, right? We need to be able to retain good faculty, um, hire staff for support services for students. And unfortunately, um if if we're struggling financially, that it's a challenge to continue to offer quality services.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

I gotcha. Yeah, funding isn't just numbers on a spreadsheet. It determines whether students have access to career training, updated technology, and even basic support services. So if funding were increased tomorrow, where would you invest it first?

SPEAKER_00 4:25

For me personally, I always think about student success when I'm thinking about funding. Uh so what I would be asking the folks on my team is where are we going to make the biggest impact on students? And I think a lot of that is probably going to be coming in those wraparound services that we offer to students, whether it's childcare or it's uh tutoring or it's even a food pantry, the the ways that community colleges ultimately kind of support underrepresented, underserved students. I think those are the services that I would want to really bolster if I had additional funding. Another is is technology, right? Um, especially when we look at some of our programs, let's say nursing, we have been able to get funding to do simulation labs. And that has been a challenge because we can't get enough clinical time, and therefore we're really capped on how many students we can bring in, and therefore we're capped on how many students we can send out into the workforce. So by getting this new technology, which was quite expensive, we were able to have these simulation labs take place of some of their clinicals and then ultimately get more students into the program and through the program. So I think other innovative technologies like that would be another place where I'd look to put funding. And then the last, which I had mentioned a little bit before, is making sure we're playing paying a reasonable wage to our faculty and our and our staff.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

For sure, yeah. It often comes back to investing directly in students and the tools they need to succeed ultimately. So, how do funding decisions affect affordability for students and families?

SPEAKER_00 6:15

That's a good question. So, community colleges and state colleges, our mission is around affordable access to education. So, in some ways, schools may find themselves uh having to increase tuition costs for students because they need to be able to operate, right? Um, so I can see how if state appropriations, for example, aren't what you expect them to be and you have to use more of your operating budget, then you may have to increase uh some of the costs of students. Now, in some states like Florida, um, as I had mentioned before, we aren't able to increase tuition, so at least at least not right now. So it begs the question of where do you get the funds from so that you can still operate without increasing costs for students and families?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

That definitely sounds challenging on how to move funds around so that everything can stay affordable. So, what financial barriers do community college students face that people may not realize?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

So, one of the barriers that I think is really important, but that we often don't think about is I guess what I would call opportunity cost. So if I am in the classroom for 15 hours a week, then I'm not working for those 15 hours a week. So that's one area where our community college students really have to make important decisions about how much time can they really spend uh in the classroom on their education when they also have to work and make ends meet. Um I think that we see challenges around child care. That's that's a big financial barrier. Housing, um that's national, but but certainly at a local level too, it we find that it's very expensive to live here. So I think those are a few of the key financial burdens that we see.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yeah, I completely understand that. It feels like just yesterday I was in college and having to make those same decisions of which hours do I work? How much school am I going to be able to do with which hours? And it's definitely a tough decision for sure. So, are there any funding models that you think would work particularly well or that maybe need to change?

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Most schools have a performance-based funding model, and generally I think it works. There should be accountability. So when we're looking at things like enrollments and completions and retention, I do believe that we should hold schools accountable and in some ways connect those metrics to funding. But I think there's a lot of nuance that can be missed in that. So, as one example, at our college, we tend to have lower retention rates because we're a military community and we often lose students because they move. And that impacts our retention rates, and then that can impact our funding. So I I don't necessarily have the right answer as far as what can be done, but I think that there has to be a way to look at some of those nuances while still holding schools accountable on some of those key performance metrics.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Gotcha. So let's switch gears here a little bit. What should lawmakers understand about community college funding that they may overlook? So that's a tough one.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

I would say that I think everyone is trying to do right by our students. And when we look at the surface level of no, we don't want to raise tuition rates, that makes sense because we want education to be accessible and affordable for our students. However, we still need to be able to operate. And so I I don't know, it depends on the state, it depends on the context. I don't know if slightly raising tuition rates is the right answer, or making sure that state appropriations kind of bump up alongside cost of living, those kinds of things need to happen. But but I do think that something needs to happen, or we could, you know, potentially be in trouble in terms of being able to offer the same level of support to students year over year.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

That's a great answer. So, what creative strategies has your college used to stretch limited funding?

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Grants are often a great place to start if you are trying to get something new off the ground. And so we have absolutely leveraged federal and state grants. We've gotten very lucky with Triumph Gulf Coast. They have been very generous with us in some of the grants that we have applied for. So we were able to completely renovate our nursing building and get simulation labs, and that really helped us expand the number of students we could serve in nursing. And we have done a Florida job growth grant to support more individuals being able to get their CDL credentials. That's been another great one for us. So I think grants are one of the ways that we have been creative in terms of stretching funding.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Yeah, it's crazy how much you have to be creative to stretch that budget as far as it'll go. I know all about that from working with the PTO. So, what do you wish that the public better understood about the value community colleges provide for the money they receive?

SPEAKER_00 11:55

At our core, we are an educational institution. We are here to educate students and we do a great job. And I of course say that from my perspective over Northwest Florida State College, but I believe that to be true across many community colleges and state colleges as well. So I I really I think I want to hit home the point that we have amazing faculty, masters, PhD, educated individuals who are providing, I would argue, just as good of an education as the instructors at a four-year institution. So to me, I'm not sure that that's the perspective that's always conveyed about community colleges. But if anything, I think we are doing uh as good of a job, if not better, sometimes, as four-year institutions and with far fewer resources.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Wow, that sounds like an incredible value, not just for the students, but also the community. This conversation has been so insightful. It's clear that the community colleges are doing an incredible job serving students, often with limited resources, and that funding plays a huge role in shaping what's possible. If there's one thing I hope listeners take away, it's this investing in community colleges is investing in real people, parents going back to school, first generation students chasing their dreams, and workers building new careers. So thank you so much, Jenna, for being on the show. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your expertise with us. I also want to thank the audience. Thank you so much for listening to my podcast. If you found this episode helpful, please be sure to share it with someone who cares about education and the future of our communities. We'll see you next time on Brutal Chaos with Kiki podcast. Have an amazing week.