Employers want workers with analytical and technical skills. Taxpayers want to make sure their money is well spent. The wide breadth of programming and the variety of students' goals make it difficult to accurately quantify community colleges' performance. Community colleges offer a variety of credit and noncredit programs in occupations that the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts will be in demand early into the next decade. These are programs from which graduates are hired before or immediately after graduation, such as nursing, computer technology, auto technology, and law enforcement.
Research shows that education pays .
Students who complete associate degrees and certificates are more likely to move into higher-status management and professional positions with higher earnings. Although the statistics about the economic benefits to individuals are encouraging, the issue of what society gains from supporting higher education continues to fuel many legislative budget debates. Victor Ukpolo and Thomas F. Dernburg, working for the Tennessee Board of Regents, tackled this nagging question and came to the conclusion that higher education yields significant returns to students, to the state, and to society. Their analysis found that the state recovers its subsidy of higher education in sales taxes alone. This happens as more highly educated people earn more money and increase their spending, which yields more in sales taxes.