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LOUISIANA'S COMMUNITYCOLLEGESJimmy L. Woods aa Academic Planning & Special Services ,Bossier Parish Community College , Bossier City,Louisiana, USAPublished online: 09 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: Jimmy L. Woods (1996) LOUISIANA'S COMMUNITY COLLEGES,Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 20:6, 539-544, DOI:10.1080/1066892960200606

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1066892960200606

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LOUISIANA'S COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Jimmy L. WoodsAcademic Planning & Special Services, Bossier ParishCommunity College, Bossier City, Louisiana, USA

Louisiana is still in a thinking and planning stage in regard to an organizedcomprehensive community college system. There are currently six 2-year colleges inthe state, with a seventh to be opened in Baton Rouge in the near future. Delgado isthe only "pure" community college in the state. Three are feeder community collegesassociated with 4-year university systems. Two began as extensions of the elemen-tary-secondary system and were administered by a local school board. One has justchanged from the elementary-secondary system to the higher education system andmerged with a local vocational-technical school. The other college is still governedby the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and administered by a localschool board. All public community colleges have an open-door admission policy,and all provide developmental education and general education courses for trans-fers. They are primarily supported by state funds based on full-time equivalencyformulas and by student tuition and fees. The need for an organized statewidecommnunity college system is apparent, and interest in such a system seems to begrowing in the state in both the political and education arenas. However, currentlythe implementation of such a system appears destined for the rather distant future.

The community college in Louisiana has always been more idea thanreality, a means to an end rather than an identity itself. The 2-yearcollege in Louisiana has a long and varied history, but an organizedcommunity college system remains an elusive goal that shows promisebut remains mired in politics. Until higher education gains a higherpriority in the eyes of Louisianians and the legislature, a communitycollege system continues to be more conception than substance.

Control of higher education in Louisiana is vested in four separateand distinct boards that ultimately report to a single board, the Boardof Regents. All members of the Board of Regents, the Board of Trustees,Louisiana State University (LSU) Board of Supervisors, and SouthernUniversity Board of Supervisors are appointed by the governor for

Address correspondence to Jimmy L. Woods, Bossier Parish Community College, 2791Airline Dr. North, Bossier City, LA 71111.

Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 20:539-544, 1996Copyright © 1996 Taylor & Francis

1066-8926/96 $12.00 + .00 539

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4-year overlapping terms. Members of the Board of Elementary andSecondary Education are elected to 4-year terms and represent variousdistricts in the state. The boards perform the customary duties involvingfunding, curriculum and programs, and data analysis.

Two of Louisiana's 2-year colleges are part of the LSU system, andthe LSU Board of Supervisors governs each. The Southern UniversityBoard of Supervisors governs another, and the Louisiana Board ofTrustees governs two others. One is governed by the Louisiana Boardof Elementary and Secondary Education.

The concept of early 2-year colleges in Louisiana was probably similarto that of other states. The first 2-year college in Louisiana was theLouisiana State Normal School, begun for the preparation of teachersin 1884. By 1921, the school had begun offering baccalaureate degrees,however, and it became Northwestern State College in 1944. Also in1921, the Louisiana Constitution provided a legal basis for the legisla-ture to establish 2-year colleges as needed in the state. The firstinstitution of this sort in Louisiana was originally Hammond JuniorCollege, established in 1925 and housed in the local high school building.By 1937, it too had grown into a 4-year school and eventually becameknown as Southeastern Louisiana University. The year 1921 also sawthe opening of the Isaac Delgado Central Trades School for vocationaltrades in New Orleans, an institution that is now a comprehensivecommunity college.

Other 4-year colleges in Louisiana began as 2-year institutions, muchlike Southeastern Louisiana College. In 1931, Northeast LouisianaUniversity began as Ouachita Parish Junior College under the gover-nance of the Ouachita Parish School Board. It became Northeast JuniorCollege of Louisiana State University in 1939, and in 1940 came underthe governance of the LSU Board of Supervisors. It became a seniorcollege in 1950, under the control of the Louisiana State Board ofTrustees. Likewise, McNeese was founded as a 2-year college under theauspices of LSU. Originally called Lake Charles Community College, itbecame John McNeese Junior College in 1940 and McNeese StateCollege, a 4-year institution, in 1950, reporting to the Louisiana StateBoard of Trustees. Francis T. Nichols Junior College, founded inThibodeaux in 1948, became Nichols State University in 1970. The mostrecent college to begin as a 2-year college and go to 4-year status wasLouisiana State University—Shreveport, established during the 1964Louisiana Legislature. The college was to be a 2-year commuter college,and it conducted its first session in September 1967; it became a 4-yeardegree-granting institution in 1974.

Currently, six 2-year colleges are in operation in Louisiana. One isDelgado; the other five are all products of the 1960s. Three are part of

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university systems, and two may be considered truly comprehensivecommunity colleges (Tollefson & Fountain, 1992). They range in sizefrom 1,000 to 15,000 students. Annual tuition ranges from $640 atBossier Parish Community College to $1,221 at Delgado.

Beginning as a trade school in 1921, the oldest and largest communitycollege in the state is Delgado in New Orleans. In 1958, it expanded intoa technical institute at the junior college level, changing its name toDelgado Trades and Technical Institute. In 1966, the school becameDelgado Community College, and it is recognized as a model multi-campus, comprehensive community college for Louisiana. Its missionincludes training in professional and advanced technology, career edu-cation, and education in the arts and sciences; the school also serves asa source of traditional occupational studies terminating in employmentin business and industry. The student enrollment for the school is morethan 15,000.

Louisiana has three 2-year colleges that are part of university sys-tems. One is Southern University—Shreveport-Bossier. It is a unit ofSouthern University Agricultural and Mechanical in Baton Rouge. TheLouisiana Legislature created the college in 1964 and designated it asa 2-year commuter college to serve the Shreveport-Bossier area. Theinstitution opened for instruction in September 1967 and enrolls slightlymore than 1,000 students. Two other 2-year colleges, LSU—Eunice andLSU—Alexandria, are campuses of the LSU system. LSU—Alexandriabegan as an agricultural center and in 1959 became a 2-year commutercollege. The state legislature authorized LSU—Eunice in 1964. Currentenrollment at both of these schools is approximately 2,800.

The other two community colleges in Louisiana, Bossier ParishCommunity College and Nunez Community College, were created in1966 by a joint resolution of the Louisiana Legislature. Each wasgoverned by the local parish school board and were originally namedThirteenth and Fourteenth Year—Airline High School and St. BernardHigh School, respectively, because they were viewed primarily as exten-sions of high schools. The schools included the names of the high schoolsin which they were housed. The Louisiana State Board of Elementaryand Secondary Education governed both of these schools.

Bossier Parish Community College opened its doors in the fall of 1967and was at first referred to as Airline Junior College and Airline College,but officially became Bossier Parish Community College in 1973. Thecollege was not authorized to grant degrees until 1979 and then only inoccupational studies. In addition to governance by the Bossier ParishSchool Board, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Edu-cation still exercises ultimate authority over the college. Bossier ParishCommunity College is the only public institution accredited by the

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Southern Association of Colleges and Schools that remains under thegovernance of a local education authority. This unique governancesituation has advantages and disadvantages. Special problems havearisen regarding provision for adequate physical facilities. The schoolhas the largest community education division in the state. It providesfor adult education, including literacy and GED programs, and offerstraining for area law enforcement agencies through the regional Crim-inal Justice Institute, which is also under the authority of the localeducation authority. In addition, Bossier Parish Community Collegealso provides training for employees of local businesses and institutions.Current enrollment is more than 4,500. Nunez College had a historysimilar to Bossier Parish Community College's until it merged with alocal technical institute in 1993 and came under the governance of theLouisiana Board of Trustees.

The 1995 legislature authorized the establishment of another com-munity college in the large metropolitan Baton Rouge area. The schoolis one of the conditions of the out-of-court settlements of the desegrega-tion suit United States v. State of Louisiana et al. The school has notbegun to enroll students and has not been officially named at this timebut will probably be called Baton Rouge Community College (Cvancara,1995).

These six 2-year public community colleges enrolled more than28,000 students in the fall of 1994 with more than half of these enrolledat Delgado. All public community colleges have an open-door admissionpolicy ensuring equal educational opportunities regardless of race, sex,ethnicity, or social group. All provide developmental education to indi-viduals with deficiencies in basic skills or in their college preparatorybackground. All provide a general education at the freshman andsophomore levels for transfers and technical, vocational, and careerprograms in preparation for employment. All six institutions are accred-ited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (Peterson'sGuide, 1994).

There are a few rather small, private 2-year schools located in thesouthern part of the state, generally with enrollments of 500 or fewer.These include Baton Rouge School of Computers, Delta Career Collegein Alexandria, Delta Junior College in Baton Rouge, Delta School ofBusiness and Technology in Lake Charles, Phillips Junior College inNew Orleans, RETS Training Center in Metairie, and Southern Tech-nical College in Lafayette. Annual tuition for these colleges ranges fromapproximately $4,000 to $10,000 (Rodenhouse, 1994).

Louisiana's 2-year public colleges are primarily supported by statefunding based on full-time equivalencies and from student tuition andfees. In addition, Bossier Parish Community College is funded through

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a minimum foundation program formula that grants an expenditure perstudent enrolled on October 1 of each year. The respective governingboards determine tuition and fees for all six institutions. In recent years,funding to all institutions of higher learning in Louisiana has beenreduced acutely because it is one of the few sources of money whoseexpenditure is not dedicated by the Louisiana Constitution. Funding forsuch areas as elementary and secondary schools, transportation, and soforth are guaranteed and specific. Funds for higher education and healthcare are not, so when fiscal emergencies arrive, these sources aretapped. As a result, institutions of higher learning are being forced toincrease tuition and decrease services in an effort to survive. Soundfiscal planning for Louisiana colleges has become virtually impossible.

On the basis of increasing enrollments at the existing colleges, asufficiently larger clientele seem to be available for the establishmentof a statewide system. The need for such a system is also evident. Itwould provide access to inexpensive, quality education for a largesegment of Louisiana's adult population. In addition, many people nowview access to a college education as a "right," and business and industryare clamoring for a trained, skilled workforce. More and more nontra-ditional students in Louisiana are desiring postsecondary educationalopportunities, and increasingly these students are enrolling part-timewhile they work and raise families. More and more of these studentsseem underprepared for college work and community colleges are hav-ing to provide these basic skills. A large rural population, a shift froman agrarian economy, and an out-migration of young people are otherfactors indicating a need for an organized system.

Politics and "turf" make the chances of this kind of system becominga reality in the near future rather slim. The technical institutes in thestate (nearly every parish has one) perceive, perhaps justifiably so, thatsuch a system is a threat to their existence. Many of these institutionscould conceivably have a number of their roles or even their entiremission absorbed by community colleges. Any discussions of combiningthe two are vehemently opposed by most technical institutes. Becausethese technical institutes are politically entrenched, they are able toward off attempts to change the status quo. Also, the Louisiana elector-ate apparently does not consider higher education to be importantenough to demand that their elected officials devise a more efficient andproductive system.

There seems to be some movement, however, regarding the organi-zation of a formal community college system in the state. The Board ofRegents recently appointed a Community College Task Force consistingof representatives from business, labor, and education. The group rec-ommended selective admission for 4-year colleges, more community

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colleges, and a cost-effective community college system. Many Louisianaleaders also see a need for a community college system. By observingcommunity college systems in Louisiana's neighboring states—Texas,Arkansas, and Mississippi—they see the results community collegesyield. These leaders also recognize that to educate a large segment ofthe population to be productive employees in today's market, opportu-nities that are convenient and affordable must be made available. Tobring about such changes may require a government leader or group ofleaders who are willing to sacrifice politics for statesmanship. Certainlythis kind of leader will have to possess courage, diplomacy, and tenacity.Perhaps someone will appear on the future political horizon. Until then,Louisiana continues to struggle to keep up with its neighbors in thehighly competitive educational and economic climate of the times.

REFERENCES

Cvancara, K. (1995). Community college born on the bayou. Community CollegeTimes, 7, 11-12.

Peterson's Guide to Two-Year Colleges. (1994). Princeton, NJ: Peterson's Guides.Rodenhouse, M. (Ed.) (1994). 1994 higher education directory. Falls Church, VA:

Higher Education Publications.Tollefson, T., & Fountain, B. (Eds.). (1992). Forty-nine state systems. Washington,

DC: American Association of Community College Communication Services.

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