While stackability is a hot concept in higher education, it remains far from the norm. Relatively few colleges make it easy for students to seamlessly stack certificates and other short-term credentials toward degrees without losing time or money in the process.
Colorado Mountain College, however, is built on stackability. With a heavy dose of certificate programs, the dual-mission college offers seven academic pathways that allow students to combine degrees with certificates, minors, and specialties. It also provides an intriguing model for a college focused solely on the local job market.
The college isn’t preparing students for careers in other regions, even Denver, says Matt Gianneschi, Colorado Mountain College’s long-serving COO, who became its president last year. The goal instead is helping students break into jobs that make the community work, like first responders, dental hygienists, and firefighters.
“Get out of the national market,” says Gianneschi, who previously served in education policy roles for three Colorado governors. “Focus on your students. Focus on your market.”
The college has 11 campuses, all connected to ski resorts in small, rural areas. About 35% of its 14K students are Latino, with 2K students who speak English as their second language.
To ensure that Colorado Mountain College’s academic tracks are relevant to local hiring demands and that they lead to good jobs, every new program it has launched over the last seven years had to be in fields that clear MIT’s Living Wage Calculator.
Likewise, the college is dependent on local property taxes rather than state funding, which allows it to be focused on job-connected programs rather enrollment. And if a degree program takes too much time to complete for working learners, the college breaks it into certificates that students can count toward an eventual degree.
The Kicker: “What jobs lead to sustainable-wage careers?” says Gianneschi. “How do we make it possible to live in our community?”