‘Small by design’: CCV o ers flexible pathways to learning

BY BOB AUDETTE Vermont News & Media

BRATTLEBORO — Joyce Judy has been the president of the Community College of Vermont since 2009 and a special focus of her work has been expanding access to higher education for all Vermonters, from high school students taking college courses to adult students seeking new career opportunities.

“I’ve been with CCV since 1983,” said Judy, during an interview with the Reformer in Brattleboro on June 9. “I started as an academic coordinator in Springfield in 1983.”

Judy who grew up on the family farm, McNamara Dairy Farm, in Plainfield, N.H., now lives in Waterbury.

Before assuming the role as CCV president in 2009, she served as its dean of students and became CCV’s first provost in 2001.

“Being a coordinator for from 1983 to 1994 in Springfield was such an important foundation for me to do with the work that I do today,” said Judy. “You get to see all the good things that happen in our classes, the relationships that are developed between students and faculty, and the relationships between students and advisors that support their academic work.”

Even though CCV serves thousands of Vermonters each year, she said, what’s unique is CCV treats each student as an individual, tailoring their education for their specific needs “Our classes are small by design,” she said. “We try to have no more than 20 students in a class so they can be active and participate.”

One of the things that is universal to many of CCV’s students is their ability to pay for classes may be limited by their own financial situations.

And like many educational institutions, CCV had to adjust its operations over the years, both to serve its changing demographic and to account for the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re a college designed to serve the adult student,” she said. “And in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, we served almost primarily women. But over time, our students started being very successful as they transferred and had aspirations far beyond us and it forced us to up our game.”

Over the years, CCV began to educate more men and more younger students, many of whom had their credits applied to undergraduate degrees.

“We have 12 locations throughout the state of Vermont that are within 25 miles of 95 percent of the state’s population,” she said.

But CCV got its online game started in 1998, long before COVID.

“When we started offering our online courses, it was really, by today’s standards, so crude,” she said. But CCV, which was offering 40 percent of its courses online before the start of the pandemic, was well-positioned to transition to all online.

“We were able to do it in a week,” said Judy. “But it was still a challenge.”

Since then, CCV has developed a number of different remote learning modes, including its synchronous online offerings, which combine online lessons with group Zoom classes.

“People like that because it removes geography,” she said. “Transportation is not an issue. Childcare isn’t an issue, but you get a chance to be interact with other students and professors.”

CCV also offers accelerated courses geared towards adults with five different start dates. Because participants must complete by the end of the semester, the coursework gets heavier the later someone joins a class.

“We have really tried to be very responsive to how students are learning,” she said.

But coming out of COVID, CCV is still offering in-person classes around the state, including in Brattleboro, medical assisting, digital photography, early childhood education, English composition and applied math concepts. CCV also offers hybrid courses, combining online instruction with limited in-person meetings, and FLEX, which are online courses with flexible assignment submission.

One of the most exciting things CCV has recently introduced, said Judy, is the McClure Early Promise Program, for Vermont’s high school classes of 2023-2026.

The program is part of the state’s Early College Program, which allows Vermont high school seniors the option of completing their last year of high school and their first year of college at the same time.

Upon graduation and on the way to earning an Associate’s Degree, the McClure Foundation program covers tuition and fees for the second year, after any federal and state financial aid, and provides enhanced career and education advising as well as stipends to help with books, transportation, and other costs associated with going to college.

Judy said there are no financial qualifications for the McClure Early Promise Program and there are no limits on the number of students who can access the funding.

“The McClure Foundation believes that every Vermonter who wants to go to college should have access,” she said. “They also believe that there should be no good job going unfilled in Vermont. So the program is very much about helping Vermonters get the skills they need for the jobs that are here in Vermont.”

For those individuals or families earning less than $75,000 a year, the

Students in their first two years can receive credit for courses that are required for undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, said Judy.

“We believe that people, no matter what they’re going into, need strong writing and math skills,” she said. “They need strong critical reading skills. It’s the fundamental belief that we want you to have a strong foundation in being able to communicate and think ... and that’s half of your degree.”

CCV also has strong relationships with the business community in Vermont and with its sister educational institutions such in the Vermont State Colleges System, such as Vermont Technical College, which offers hands-on training at local businesses such as G.S. Precision.

802 Opportunity Program, in partnership with the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, fully pays for classes at CCV, said Judy.

Through the 802 Opportunity Program, adults as well as tradition- al-aged college students can earn the equivalent of their first two years of college and if they want they can transfer and use these credits to complete their undergraduate degree, said Judy.

Some businesses are looking for employees with certification in careers such as bookkeeping, which don’t necessarily require a college degree, and CCV offers those programs, too, said Judy.

CCV is also working with the Scott Administration and the Legislature to cut tuition for “high demand” jobs such as in health care and in manufacturing.