Technological advances make it possible for people to live longer. As the overall population increases, community college enrollment is expected to grow, and the colleges will likely confer more associate degrees. Technological innovations in the workplace are expected to continue to fuel enrollment by people seeking training or skills upgrade. Distance learning technologies may increase community colleges' capacity without massive new building projects. Technology also may help accommodate enrollment growth, but it is not the total solution.
Technology is expensive.
A bad choice in software or hardware means a college is left behind. It a college waits for the technology to stabilize, it risks losing students to other higher education providers. During the few years of its widespread use, the Internet has intensified competition in higher education by erasing the geographic boundaries that historically defined public community colleges' domains. Electronic delivery of courses has also generated faculty compensation issues and questions about intellectual property rights. Technology increases the potential for people who live in remote areas to advance their education, but it also carries the risk of cutting out the low-income populations community colleges serve, because accessing the Internet requires a personal computer of fairly recent vintage.