Atlantic Cape celebrates Community College Month

Atlantic Cape Community College is celebrating Community College Month this April by joining the #CCMonth campaign, a monthlong grassroots education campaign coordinated by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT).

The primary goals of #CCMonth are to improve awareness of the economic, academic and equity advantages of attending community colleges, and to bust longtime stigmas wrongly associated with public two-year colleges.

“Community College Month is a wonderful opportunity to reach out into the local community and to demonstrate that community colleges should be the first choice of many collegegoers,” Atlantic Cape President Dr. Barbara Gaba said. “We are first-class institutions that are vital to our local and state economies, and provide an affordable opportunity to obtain an advanced educational degree or certification.”

Public community colleges are a uniquely American educational model that was designed to guarantee access to an affordable, high-quality higher education for all, serving a demographically and socioeconomically diverse population. They are the primary educators of life-saving nursing and other healthcare professionals among many others.

Community colleges also serve as an onramp to bachelor’s, master’s and higher-level degrees for many students. They guarantee open admissions for all students. They offer flexibility and supports for adult students who have to work to support their families. And without community colleges, many American students would not be able to access higher education at all. In short, community colleges were created to serve the needs of their communities, and they do it exceptionally well.

“Community colleges are engines of diversity, equity and inclusion,” said ACCT President and CEO Jee Hang Lee. “They give opportunities to all students, and they support all students throughout their educations, whether they attend to attain an associate degree or certificate, intend to transfer for a bachelor’s or higher degree, or they take one or a few courses to learn a new skill or expand their horizons.”

We encourage you to take the time this month to share how Atlantic Cape has played a role in your life by tagging us on social media and using the hashtags #CCMonth and #AtlanticCape.