CCRC
An Unprecedented Investment: Community Colleges’ Use of Federal Emergency Aid
An Unprecedented Investment: Community Colleges’ Use of Federal Emergency Aid
Community College Research Center | April 2026
This journal article examines how community colleges distributed and utilized Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) funding through analysis of nationwide expenditure data from 976 colleges and survey responses from 170 colleges across six states.
Financing Community Colleges: Current Landscape and Future Directions
Financing Community Colleges: Current Landscape and Future Directions
Community College Research Center | January 2026
This book chapter describes how state funding formulas, enrollment declines, and federal recovery investments during the COVID-19 pandemic intersect to shape prospects for revenue and spending patterns for community colleges looking forward.
State Policy for Expanding Access to High-Demand Jobs: The Role of G3, GO Virginia, and Virginia’s Community Colleges
State Policy for Expanding Access to High-Demand Jobs: The Role of G3, GO Virginia, and Virginia’s Community Colleges
CCRC | July 2025
This brief examines two statewide workforce-focused initiatives, G3 and GO Virginia. The authors present a snapshot of how these initiatives interact on the ground and describe opportunities for more deliberate and strategic efforts to better align their goals and investments.
Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead? Evaluating the Effects of Virginia’s Workforce-Targeted Free College Program
Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead? Evaluating the Effects of Virginia’s Workforce-Targeted Free College Program
CCRC | April 2025
Using two quasi-experimental methods, this paper estimates the causal impact of Virginia’s Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead initiative on financial aid and academic outcomes of community college students.
Institutional and Student Responses to Free College: Evidence From Virginia
Institutional and Student Responses to Free College: Evidence From Virginia
CCRC | September 2024
Using administrative data, this paper analyzes Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead (G3)—a free community college initiative that Virginia implemented in 2021—and shows that both institutions and students responded to the tuition-free messaging and eligibility criteria.
Increasing Access to High-Demand Occupational Training: An Exploration of G3’s Recruitment and Enrollment Strategies
Increasing Access to High-Demand Occupational Training: An Exploration of G3’s Recruitment and Enrollment Strategies
CCRC | July 2024
This brief uses enrollment and outcome data as well as interview data from eight colleges implementing the Get A Skill, Get A Job, Get Ahead (G3) program to examine college-level G3 outreach, recruitment, and enrollment strategies and the process for awarding G3 aid.
Pandemic Relief Spending and Recovery Strategies: Findings From a Survey of Community Colleges in Six States
Pandemic Relief Spending and Recovery Strategies: Findings From a Survey of Community Colleges in Six States
CCRC | June 2024
This report describes pandemic recovery activities community colleges implemented with federal Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) funds, colleges’ perceptions of how successful the funds were in addressing student and institutional needs during the pandemic, and colleges’ views of unmet needs.
How HEER Funding Rescued Community Colleges From the Pandemic
How HEER Funding Rescued Community Colleges From the Pandemic
CCRC | March 2024
Using financial data from IPEDS, this brief examines what happened to community college revenue and student aid during the pandemic and assesses the importance of Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) funding for community colleges and their students.
An Analysis of Federal Pandemic Relief Funding at Community Colleges
An Analysis of Federal Pandemic Relief Funding at Community Colleges
CCRC | February 2024
This report examines how Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) funds were distributed to community colleges and the extent to which the colleges spent those funds. It also explores how HEER funding and spending patterns differed by institutional and student characteristics.
Pandemic Relief Funding Dashboard
Pandemic Relief Funding Dashboard
CCRC | October 2023
An interactive Tableau dashboard presents publicly available award and spending data on HEER Funds from the Education Stabilization Fund (ESF) Transparency Portal. Users are able to examine funding and spending trends at community colleges across the country by region, state, and other institutional characteristics.
