The evolving challenges of Higher Education institutions today have never been more difficult. Continued public funding reductions, challenges to meeting student enrollment goals, and the need to increase student retention and graduation rates present complicated challenges to manage for any institution. As a business officer at a Community College, you know all too well the challenges of leading in this environment and for every challenge there appears to be a new potential business partner touting a software solution designed to solve each problem.

In my tenure at CCBO, I’ve had the pleasure of attending several state business officer meetings, playing euchre with the ICCCFO group in Illinois and enjoying the gulf coast with the TACCBO folks in Texas. Most recently I met many of the business officers in the state of New York at their Spring NYSCCBOA meeting. It was a great conference with sessions on topics ranging from creating master plans to implementing Open Education Resources on campus to benchmarking your employee benefits - all topics I’m sure many of you are facing on your campuses regardless of what state you reside in.

Greetings CCBO Members! I can’t believe it is already July! The summer is flying by. I hope you have had a little time to slow down and recharge your batteries with a vacation or have one planned, even though the summer is one of the busiest times for community college administrative offices. The fall semester will be here before we know it.

Some researchers are warning community colleges that enrollment isn't expected to improve, even as they grapple with declines in state funding and demand for better performance and outcomes. (Inside Higher Ed)

Nine public colleges and universities in northeast Ohio have teamed up to create a consortium agreement to improve efficiency and effectiveness, strengthen educational offerings, provide collaborative pathways to degrees and support the region’s workforce. (Community Colleges Daily)

Something rang both haphazard and familiar in the announcement Facebook made last week, promising to create as many as 15 partnerships with community colleges by the end of 2018. (Chronicle of Higher Education)

Community colleges face many hurdles, ranging from budget constraints to increased enrollment, but a new study pinpoints some of the largest issues - which may surprise you. (Community College Review)

November 15, 2018, 2:00 PM EST Midlands Technical College and the University of South Carolina partnered in 2012 to allow 159 students to take classes on the Midlands Technical College campus and live on the University of South Carolina campus. This partnership is known as the Gamecock Gateway program. The students complete one year at MTC and then continue their education at USC for the remaining three years. The program has grown and in 2017, there were 438 students in the program. This has been a great partnership between the institutions and allows students to begin their studies in a smaller classroom setting, experience campus living, and form relationships with fellow students and faculty and staff in both educational environments.