AUSTIN, Texas - A new national survey of community and technical colleges highlights the importance of job-focused education and training.

It finds 35% of students at these schools are taking non-credit courses that lead to industry certifications and credentials. That's a change from students who used to stick with academic courses designed to transfer to a four year school.

Tamar Jacoby - president of Opportunity America, the group that did the survey - said community and technical colleges offer students, whether they're 18 or 48, an affordable pathway to a career.

"Community college students can be job-focused or not job focused,' said Jacoby. "They can be learning welding or nursing or they can be learning liberal arts and sociology."

Texas' Commissioner of Higher Education Harrison Keller says many students enrolled in non-credit programs later pursue four year degrees, but on average, only 20% of community colleges allow students to leverage non-credit learning for college credit.

According to the survey, of the nation's 10.5 million community college students, about three quarters are older than 25.

Last week, the Austin Community College District announced a new partnership with Toyota Motor North America, called "Technician Training and Education Network," to begin next fall. It's designed to provide a pipeline to careers with Toyota and Lexus.

Chauncy Lennon, vice president for learning and work at Lumina Foundation, said the next challenge is getting more American businesses to cross-promote innovation.

"Get industries to come together and better identify their shared skill needs," said Lennon. "And then, signal those over to the community-college system."

A survey question about partnerships between community colleges and local employers found that only about 36% of employer partners offer workplace-based learning opportunities.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

Community and technical college faculty members are preparing for the legislative session in Olympia, and among the top priorities for the American Federation of Teachers of Washington is pay parity between adjunct or contingent professors and their full-time peers.

Jacqui Cain, contingent faculty at Pierce College and vice president for contingent faculty issues for the Federation, said some colleges are doing better on pay, but at others, adjunct professors make about half what full-time faculty make, doing the same work.

"We are having a hard time keeping contingent faculty in the workforce, and one of the number one reasons I hear is the fact that these jobs are not sustainable," Cain asserted. "A lot of the faculty start out doing this for a few years with the idea that it's going to result in full-time work. For many people, that just doesn't happen."

Cain pointed out because adjunct teaching jobs are low-paid, it also can hurt diversity in the profession. She stressed her organization will also be pushing lawmakers to approve more wraparound services for students and removing barriers for DACA students.

The pandemic has affected students' performance across the board. Cain noted it can be seen in lower test scores from high schoolers, who were relegated to remote classes. In light of this, her union would like to see free college tuition for students' first two years of school.

"Because of COVID, and because of the damage that was done to the educational experience, we're going to be advocating for free college for those students coming out," Cain emphasized. "So that they won't be disproportionately impacted by what we've gone through for the last two years, and can sort of make up that work."

Cain added the union has worked with a coalition of groups in the past in Olympia, including the Washington Education Association and the student-led Communities for Our Colleges. The legislative session starts in January.

The pandemic took a toll on the nursing profession, resulting in shortages across the nation and especially Texas, ranked the second-hardest-hit state.

In addition to needing more nurses, ethnic diversity in the nursing profession is a growing concern as the nation's demographics change.

Kenya Beard, associate provost for social mission and academic excellence at Chamberlain University, said a diverse workforce can result in greater patient choice, communication, and ultimately, satisfaction.

"Sometimes, we make assumptions based on our life experiences that can interrupt the patient's ability to achieve their highest level of health," Beard acknowledged. "Having a diverse workforce and a diverse student body can mitigate some of those problems."

The nursing shortage has left Texas with 10 nurses per 1,000 people, according to the publication Nurse Journal. Chamberlain has three colleges of nursing in Texas.

Dr. Anita L. Harris-Brown, director of clinical support operations for Texas Children's Hospital, has introduced programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. Pregnant at 16, Harris-Brown initially did not expect her life's trajectory to include helping others on their career paths.

She said the compassion shown by her doctors and nurses led her to a nursing degree and a doctorate from Chamberlain University to improve health equity. She is now focused on developing more racially diverse nursing leadership, starting with the basics.

"Job descriptions to make sure we are taking out language that can perceive racism, and to identify words that put our families and our patients in this 'racism box,' " Harris-Brown outlined.

Health outcomes sometimes depend on whether a provider looks like you and understands your challenges, according to Harris-Brown, who added more minority nurses could help the health of an individual, group of people, or population.

"Now what it's doing, because of our nurse shortage, it is really putting the diversity on a front to say, 'Our nurses are not meeting our patients, so patients aren't feeling comfortable to ask a question,' " Harris-Brown noted.

She stressed a high priority for the nursing profession is attracting students from underrepresented groups, specifically men and people from African American, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, and Alaskan Native backgrounds.

On the last day to sign bills this legislative session, Gov Gavin Newsom approved a slew of measures to improve college graduation rates, particularly for students from low-income communities.

One proposal, Assembly Bill 1705, requires community colleges to place more students in transfer-level courses.

Joshua Hagen - policy director for the Campaign for College Opportunity - said previously, students had to take high-stakes entry exams that diverted too many people, especially students of color, into years of remedial courses that don't count toward a degree.

"Whatever classes students took in high school, whatever GPA they had, the best way that we can support them is starting them in something that will earn them college credit," said Hagen. "Making sure they get supports rather than starting in a remedial class - taking one, two, three semesters before they even get to that starting line."

Other new laws will expand tutoring services and cancel some student debt for college students who dropped out, so they can afford to re-enroll and finish their degrees.

Hagen noted that another new bill says students won't lose part of their financial aid from the state if they work hard to win a private scholarship.

"There was nothing to prevent the state from saying, 'Okay, we will now reduce your state financial aid by $1,000 since you have - quote, unquote - less need,' " said Hagen.

Another bill would require Cal State and community colleges to grant priority registration to students who are raising children.