Austin Community College enrollment continues to grow faster than Metro Austin’s total population, but the college must grow even faster to meet regional college enrollment goals and improve the region’s economic competitiveness, according to an Austin Chamber of Commerce report to be presented to the college’s board of trustees in the near future.

The second annual Austin Community College Progress Report was produced by a team of a dozen Metro Austin business leaders in order to track ACC’s progress in the areas most important to regional economic growth: workforce development and supply.

The Austin Chamber’s Austin Community College Progress Report is part of the Chamber’s 20,010 by 2010 initiative to increase metro-Austin’s college enrollment rate by 20,010 more students by the year 2010. The 20,010 by 2010 initiative dovetails with the state’s Closing the Gaps plan, a state-wide plan directed at closing higher educational gaps in student participation, student success and other areas.

The report comes as the federal government calls on community colleges to play a central role in bringing the country out of recession. President Obama announced this summer a goal of 5 million additional community college graduates by 2020 and a plan to invest $12 billion over 10 years in community colleges.

“Austin Community College is a leader among community colleges in measuring performance. I hope that by its next budget cycle ACC will continue to blaze the way for other community colleges by setting enrollment and completion goals based on meeting projected job market demand,” said Tokyo Electron US Holdings President Barry Mayer, Co-Chair of the ACC Progress Report Task Force and Austin Chamber Chair-elect.

The Austin Chamber’s Austin Community College Progress Report recommends that by 2015 ACC supply at least 90 percent of the associate and technical degree holders, particularly in health and tech-related jobs, local businesses will need. “The Metro Austin business community also has to do its part to support ACC to ensure that the college can increase capacity, expand key programs and continue to grow enrollment to meet the Chamber’s goals,” said Freescale Semiconductor executive Eliseo Elizondo, ACC Task Force Co-Chair.

Other 2008 Austin Community College Progress Report findings include:

• Between 2000 and 2008, ACC’s overall enrollment grew by an average of 3.4 percent annually while Metro Austin’s population grew by an average of three percent annually. Most of the growth was in courses completed by students planning to transfer to four-year colleges.
• ACC’s planned increase in the number of nursing and other health field graduates will likely allow it to meet most of local health field employers’ labor needs by 2015.
• ACC’s plan for minimal increases in the number of graduates in technology fields such as computer support will likely lead local employers to continue to look outside Metro Austin to hire the most relevant technology workers.
• ACC spends a majority of its property tax revenue on workforce development classes such as nursing, health-related and technical classes.

Recommendations by the 2008 Austin Community College Progress Report Task Force include:

• Student enrollment should rise from 33,700 in 2008 to 45,000 by 2015.
• ACC should continue with plans to increase the number of graduates from nursing and health-related programs to 90 percent of expected labor market need by 2015.
• ACC should significantly increase its targets for the number of graduates from non-health technology-related programs, such as those for computer support specialists, to 90 percent of expected labor market need by 2015.
• ACC should track graduates’ initial post-graduation jobs and salaries to determine if students enter the careers for which they trained and how their ACC education affects their earnings. ACC should also determine the best way to measure graduation rates for different types of students and incorporate these methods into its strategic planning.
• To aid ACC in reaching these goals, the Metro Austin business community should consider supporting thoughtful efforts to expand ACC’s taxing district.

Austin Chamber Education Contacts:
Drew Scheberle, Sr. VP Education and Talent Development, 512.587.8230 or dscheberle@austinchamber.com
Molly Bloom, Vice President Education and Talent Alignment, 512.322.5624 or mbloom@austinchamber.commbloom@austinchamber.com