4 min read December 2023 — Invest: spoke with Justin Lonon, chancellor at Dallas College, about being in the “barrier busting” business, their teacher residency program, and their initiative to make child care available to student parents. “If you don’t have a safe and reliable place to bring your child when you are in class, then you can’t get to class. We have partnered with the Bezos Foundation to open the Bezos Academy at two of our campuses. This provides a Montessori-inspired preschool education for the children of our student parents,” he said.
What are some recent highlights for Dallas College?
There has been a tremendous focus on removing the barriers that impede student success. We are breaking down those barriers with innovative external partnerships to address the unique needs of Dallas College students. We have been focusing on enrollment, which has been impacted post pandemic as many of our adult working students have stayed in the workforce because of the robust job market in the Dallas area. They can’t take time away from work to seek new credentials; so, we are addressing this challenge by adding additional on-campus child care. Many child care centers closed during the pandemic and didn’t reopen. If you don’t have a safe and reliable place to bring your child when you are in class, then you can’t get to class. We have partnered with the Bezos Foundation to open the Bezos Academy at two of our campuses. This provides a Montessori-inspired preschool education for the children of our student parents. We have also partnered with the YMCA for drop-in child care, and we are seeking to expand programs like these at each of our campuses.
Another initiative is our $1.1 billion voter-approved bond initiative, which we are using to invest in our buildings throughout all our campuses so we can serve students better. As part of this bond initiative, a new and reimagined downtown campus will bring Dallas College to new heights when serving our students and community. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Dallas College to build a new downtown urban campus, so we are excited about the continuing work on that.
How has the growth of North Texas impacted Dallas College?
We are seeing the impact in increased enrollment. We have over 125,000 students at our seven primary campuses and 16 neighborhood workforce centers. More people are taking advantage of our many programs, earning short-term certifications, associate degrees, and four-year degrees in early childhood education. Students from all walks of life are taking advantage of these programs because North Texas has a robust job market, and we are happy to provide the skills needed to compete for available opportunities. Dallas College is the bridge to economic mobility and prosperity to enter the workforce pipeline. Employers want us to help them to get skilled workers, so we are engaging heavily with companies to ensure that our programs align with their needs within their individual sectors.
What programs have seen an uptick in popularity over the past year?
Mechatronics is a big one because increasingly we are seeing a need for skilled workers in manufacturing automation. We partner with Amazon, TI and Walmart, companies that rely on specialized equipment to run their warehouse facilities.
There is a big demand in biotech, where we secured a $8.8 million grant to support this region for those types of jobs. We aligned with Tarrant and Collin community colleges, UTA as well as several hospital systems and employers that have committed to filling 1,100 jobs in the biotech space.
We have a four-year degree in early childhood education, which was put in place after seeing the need for early childhood teachers in our area. We are the first community college in Texas to launch this degree, and we are the first to have a teacher residency program, which provides funding to support students as student teachers who earn $30,000 while they learn.
The future is in developing more work and learn opportunities because students need to develop the skills but often still need to work while they are pursuing their education.
What differentiates you from other higher education institutions in North Texas?
We are flexible and responsive to student needs and demands with 300 different programs and options. Dallas College has something to offer for everyone, and at the end of the day people are looking to improve their skills and salaries so they can support their families. We have a path for students and individuals that will benefit them, and that is of great value.
How have student expectations shifted, and how are you meeting those changing expectations?
Flexibility is very important. We surveyed students after COVID about whether they wanted more face-to-face or online courses. The answer was yes to both of those. We charge $79 per credit hour, so we offer affordable in-classroom instruction, but for many students this isn’t enough. Life barriers get in the way, so we offer a free DART public transportation pass. We also provide textbooks with the cost of tuition, and for some of our students, this eliminates the need to wait weeks to get learning materials. We focus on these barriers because they are student success barriers. Expectations have changed for students. We want to support the whole student, not just the student in the classroom. Offering shorter five-week certificate programs are a great example of how we can meet a student’s needs so they can be competitive in a changing workforce.
What’s your outlook for Dallas College over the next few years?
We are looking to 2030 with a plan to continue to evolve and re-imagine ourselves to be the most responsive to our community’s needs. Our enrollment goals and new programs are ambitious in that period and will include some new four-year degrees. We are investing heavily in technology and student success, as well as in facilities and in complete online programs. We want to ensure students have the best experience and the best technology, as well as amazing world-class faculty, staff and facilities. We exist to solve problems for students, the community, and business industry, and we are committed to do just that.
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