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Community colleges highlight workforce training, early college gains and budget risks
Summary
Community College System officials told the committee the system serves about 24,000 students across credit, early‑college and workforce programs, emphasized rapid expansion in healthcare and trades credentials, and warned cuts to early college or workforce funding would reduce capacity for in‑state workforce pipelines.
Mark Rubinstein, chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire, and Shannon Reid, director of government affairs and communications, described the system’s role in supplying credentialed workers for the state and outlined budget items the House trimmed from the governor’s proposal.
Rubinstein said the system served roughly 24,000 students in the last year: about 12,000 in credit programs leading to degrees and certificates, roughly 10,000 in early college programs (high‑school students earning college credits) and around 2,500 in noncredit workforce programs, including apprenticeships. He told senators campuses across the state tailor programs to regional employer needs.
Officials showed labor bureau data linking projected openings to community college credentials, with a heavy concentration of demand in health‑care occupations (LNA, medical assistant) and trades (CDL, HVAC, advanced manufacturing). Reid said recent state investments enabled many colleges to add LNA and medical assistant pipelines and to create an apprenticeship for nursing center directors.
On budget specifics, the college system said the governor’s recommendation increased funding for dual and concurrent enrollment, maintained workforce credential funding and proposed a tuition freeze extension; the House reduced dual/concurrent enrollment funding from the governor’s level and cut the proposed tuition‑freeze support. System officials urged restoration of early college funding (which the system said supported roughly 11,000 students and 60,000 credits in the cited year) because of its high return on investment.
Senators and college leaders discussed access and program design for adult learners: many nursing students are returning adults rather than recent high‑school graduates and the system is reviewing admission tests (such as the TEAS) and alternative readiness assessments to remove barriers while maintaining academic standards. Reid said about 1 in 5 nursing students already holds a bachelor’s degree in another field.
The system noted it has frozen tuition for six consecutive years and limited increases over a longer span, emphasizing affordability as a priority. Officials also described partnerships with the university system (articulation agreements and the pathways from House Bill 1530) and requested continued legislative support for early college and workforce investments to maintain local pipelines into the New Hampshire economy.
