Workforce, Economic, and Community Development: The Changing Landscape of the Entrepreneurial Community College

The rise of the entrepreneurial college has created tensions within the comprehensive community college. Tensions often arise from differences in modes of operation, since the entrepreneurial college has a strong allegiance to employers and other groups outside the college and is more flexible and less constrained by admissions policies. Sometimes tensions arise when regular and entrepreneurial programs are established in separate centers offering similar courses in credit and noncredit formats. The allocation of revenues, including the “profits” generated by entrepreneurial efforts, is another source of tension. The authors of this paper argue that the entrepreneurial college shows promise for serving local community needs and that greater attention should be paid to this emerging college role. Careful assessment of community needs and strategic planning could help institutions expand their entrepreneurial activities. However, colleges need to find ways to integrate the regular and the entrepreneurial college. This could be done by sharing faculty; eliminating the differential funding between credit and noncredit courses; creating joint student services, advisory committees, and instructional centers; and integrating their administration and physical locations.