Chris Gray, Ph.D.
Founding President, Erie County Community College
Our spring semester is underway. We continue to serve well over 700 students and may even reach 800 this semester! Before classes begin, EC3 personnel gather for training, set the tone for the coming semester, and welcome new folks to our ranks. At EC3, we call this day "not-a-convocation." That's a tongue-in-cheek jab, but I'm a good sport and can take it. Many schools call these meetings convocations, but when EC3 began over three years ago, I emphatically rejected that name. We don't need to bring in all the old, archaic traditions of higher education; we don't want them precisely because we're building something different.
Now, if you will indulge me, I will briefly take you through an outline of what I shared with our staff.
Helping students navigate their education isn't so different from how we navigate roads today. Think about when you're driving somewhere using Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze. What happens if you miss a turn? The app doesn't scold you or give up on you; it simply recalculates. It finds a new path to your destination. Maybe it adds a few minutes, or maybe it reroutes you entirely, but its goal remains the same: to get you where you need to be. That kind of rerouting is exactly how we ought to interact with students. When they get off track, we help them find their way back. And it's also what higher education needs to do as a whole.
Let's look at the data (if you've been reading here for a while, you know that I love data!). Recent studies show that 58% of students identify a well-paying career as the primary reason they choose a post-secondary education. Too many professors—including myself, when I first started—think higher education is about epistemological exploration or the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. For instance, we require every single student to learn academic research writing. But even I, working in higher ed, rarely use that style. Instead, business communication is far more relevant in the professional world. That's not to say there's no place for the traditional liberal arts model; after all, some students will go on to earn Ph.D.s and contribute to academic knowledge. But why train every single student for that path when we know most won't take it?
We also know that two-thirds of first-year students report that economic conditions significantly influence their choice of college. Not only do students enter college hoping for a good job, but eight out of ten graduates also believe their college should have done a better job preparing them for the workforce. Employers agree; staggeringly, less than 40% believe colleges are producing well-prepared graduates, and only 16% of Americans think that a four-year degree prepares students adequately for today's economy. The message is clear: the external world is questioning the value and purpose of higher education.
We see this in state legislatures, too. In Illinois, lawmakers got fed up with colleges failing to streamline credit transfers between state-supported schools, so they legislated a fix. They also capped degree credit hours to prevent schools from adding unnecessary requirements that cost students more money and time. In Florida, the state legislature recently enacted laws restricting public funds from supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Even here in Pennsylvania, Governor Shapiro's Blueprint for Higher Education shows that he and state lawmakers expect community colleges and the PASSHE system to focus on workforce development.
So, when I say EC3 is doing things differently, I don't just mean shorter-term lengths. Research has shown for over a decade that short-term classes improve success and engagement for adult learners, so why wouldn't community colleges transition to an eight-week model? EC3 has. The average community college graduate earns more than twenty excess credit hours beyond their program requirements. Why? Because too many institutions make their curriculum overly complicated, packed with prerequisites, and unresponsive to the reality that most students change majors at least once. EC3 limits every degree to the bare minimum state requirement (or licensing body requirement) and only includes prerequisites when necessary.
That's just one example of how we rethink higher ed. We've also embedded success coaches into our classes because we know full well that students sometimes hesitate to ask professors for help due to the perceived power dynamic. By having another staff member available as a safe, supportive connection, we've helped students navigate challenges and stay on track.
And the results speak for themselves. I encourage you to look at the key performance indicators (KPIs) on our website; there, you'll see that we're performing in the top quartile of all community colleges. Yes, our sample size is rather small, and our data isn't yet longitudinal, but I see something special happening at EC3. We're onto something!
So, while I hope our faculty and support staff continue helping students reroute when they miss a turn, I also believe that higher education itself must keep challenging outdated assumptions. The old model doesn't serve most modern students. EC3 is thus committed to being agile and student-focused, and we will continue helping students develop the skills they need to get better jobs and improve the lives of their families and our community.
Our community: your college.
