District Digest: Community Colleges as Anchor Institutions in Rural Areas

Norris, Stephanie; Ullrich, Laura Dawson; Waddell, Sonya Ravindranath

Journal Article

District Digest: Community Colleges as Anchor Institutions in Rural Areas

Abstract: The Fifth Federal Reserve District — comprising Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, most of West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. — is home to 122 public two-year institutions that have a wide range of both traditional academic and technical programs. More than half of these community colleges are located in rural counties. The 66 rural community colleges, like the private and public four-year institutions of higher education in rural areas, play an anchor institution role in their communities. But this role is not always accounted for in the formulas that federal, state, and local governments use to fund institutions of higher education. Understanding and appropriately measuring the role that community colleges play in rural areas is important to how we evaluate policies and funding for workforce and community development throughout the rural Fifth District.

Keywords: community colleges; 5th district; anchor institutions; rural areas;