Questions Remain as CT Community Colleges 12-into-1 Merger Draws Closer

Connecticut is home to 12 community colleges that provide students across the state with an opportunity to receive a high-quality education at a reasonable price, not too far from home. Students complete their community college academic program better prepared to tackle whatever obstacle or drawbacks may come next in their lives.

During the past few years, merging the community colleges to be one statewide institution has been under discussion, with proposals developed, revised and ultimately approved. Now, the 12 into 1 merger is on the brink of happening, in 2023.

The argument advocating for the merger is to make it easier for students to transfer between the various schools, soon to be campuses of a single institution. With the establishment of the Connecticut State Community College, processes will be simpler, benefitting students. The merged community college with 12 campuses is expected to have more than 32,000 students.

“Once we merge, they can register for any class at any community college and take classes online,” said Rebecca Rist-Brown, Professor & Program Coordinator, Criminal Justice & Criminology Studies, at Middlesex Community College in Middletown.

Rist-Brown has been at Middlesex Community College for the years, and is thrilled that the merger will enable Criminal Justice (CJ) students to access 70+ CJ classes systemwide. Since the criminal justice program is relatively small at Middlesex, it gave Rist-Brown the opportunity to reconstruct the entire curriculum when she joined the faculty. She teaches Forensic Science, Evidence of Procedures, and Criminology. However, she also designed a class based on a popular Netflix show, and created a Saturday seminar for high school students taking college courses.

With the merger coming in July 2023, rather than take away the educational program that Rist-Brown has crafted, it actually opens all of these unique classes to students who attend other community colleges in Connecticut. Rist-Brown views the merger as a way for students to receive a more well-rounded education.

Rist-Brown has a strong background in law enforcement, but less so in other aspects of law. Students will soon be able to take courses from professors at other schools that have strong backgrounds in those fields. While students were always able to take other classes, it will not be an unreasonable process just to take a single course. Students will be more encouraged to take advantage of what is being offered to them on other campuses, now that it is in their reach.

“They aren’t just limited to my class options,” said Rist-Brown. “They can take a victimology class online at another school,” for example.

According to the CT State website, “the main drivers for the consolidation are closing the opportunity gap, improving student success rates and reorganizing our community colleges into a financially sustainable position, such that it is well positioned to continue to serve students for many years to come.”

The merger will not be taking positions away from faculty, as far as Rist-Brown knows. She believes the goal is to expand the curriculum, rather than take away from it. Rist-Brown has been communicating with other criminal justice professors at the other community colleges to develop one curriculum that will be of most benefit to students. No courses are being dropped, they are only being opened for all students.

Plans are for CT State to have “a statewide catalog which will be the same across all campuses, with standardized course pre-requisites, learning outcomes and titles, making it much easier for students to take classes at any campus and no longer have to transfer credits from community college to community college,” the CT State website explains.

“The curriculum alignment process has been positive for the criminal justice department. It has been great working with the other campuses and my colleagues, and we are developing a robust and diverse curriculum,” said Rist-Brown.

According to Rist-Brown, many of the students are out of the loop on the merger. However, she explained to one of her classes how the process of taking a course at another community college will be much simpler, and they then became intrigued.

With this merger on the horizon, some marketing changes will have to be made at all of the schools. Rist-Brown was not aware of the naming specifics –  but expressed the hope  that her campus would incorporate Middlesex into its name.

All 12 of the community colleges will be named Connecticut State Community College when they become part of a single institution. However, all of the current names of the schools will be kept. For example, Housatonic will be a branch of Connecticut State Community College.

“While our collective name is Connecticut State Community College, the campuses will retain their legacy and identify in their names,” said Melissa Lamar, Director of Marketing and Communications for Connecticut State Community College. 

Lamar also noted that for each school, Connecticut State Community College will be used in the branding, therefore merchandise at the campus stores may change, and signs around campus may be added. Although, there is no set plan currently.  A commitment has been made that each of the 12 current community colleges will become a part of the new merged CT State Community College.

While everything now seems to be running smoothly, Rist-Brown can’t yet say if she would suggest all states do this for their students.

“We’re still in the middle, so we’re still trying to figure this out,” said Rist-Brown, noting that she is thrilled for the opportunities for the criminal justice students, and the process in her department has been wonderful.

There are many details that remain unknown – or not widely known - regarding the merger. Many students appear unaware that it is happening, despite a website devoted to it – and there appears to be uncertainty as to how the marketing of each campus may differ.. The stated goal, however, is to improve college student’s education, rather than take away from it, and the website explains that  “Faculty across the state are collaborating to consolidate programs that are offered at more than one college. We anticipate that most current programs will be represented in the Connecticut State Community College curriculum. Once the program consolidation process has been finalized, advisors will be able to help students determine their best path to completion if they are still working on their program after Fall 2023.” 

The stated vision for the new CT State Community College is to “be recognized for exceptional student success, educational leadership, and transformative collaboration with business and industry, government, educational, and key stakeholders while advancing diverse opportunities for Connecticut’s citizens and communities.

Only time will tell how the merger of the 12 community colleges in Connecticut plays out.

This article was reported and written by Sarah Klepack, a Connecticut resident attending Endicott College and pursuing studies in communication and digital journalism.