Dallas County Community College District urged the 80th Legislature to champion community colleges and our students by supporting these three primary priorities:

Base funding
Incentive funding
Affordability

At Dallas County Community College District, we can point to almost 90,000 reasons why community colleges should be a legislative priority: our students. In the fall of 2006, DCCCD enrolled more than 64,000 credit and almost 25,000 continuing education students, which makes DCCCD the largest undergraduate institution in the state of Texas. We are proud that so many people turn to us to build a bright future, but we are most proud of their success and our contributions to the state’s economic vitality and workforce.

Community colleges are the key to success in achieving the goals of Closing the Gaps by serving as the gateway for access to higher education. Community colleges enroll 75 percent of the freshmen and sophomores in Texas — 78 percent of minority freshmen and sophomores — and the student population reflects the ethnic diversity of the state. Community colleges are accessible and affordable, and attract the very students who are needed in the state’s higher education system.

With this fact in mind, DCCCD and the state’s other two-year colleges believe that it is time to build a new relationship between the state and community colleges — The New Community College Compact With Texas. 

For more information, contact Justin Lonon, executive director of public and governmental affairs, at 214-860-2135 or Justin.Lonon@dcccd.edu.