When U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon recently called on university presidents and governing boards to restore public trust in higher education, she issued an invitation every college leader should welcome. Americans deserve institutions that are accountable, affordable and committed to preparing students for meaningful lives and careers.
Throughout the secretary’s call to action, universities are referenced repeatedly. Community colleges — the institutions educating more than half of Texas’s undergraduate students — are never mentioned. That omission matters because community colleges have long embodied the very principles her call to action seeks to advance.
The measure of a college is not whom it admits. It is what it helps students become.
Community colleges do not compete for prestige through selective admissions. We open our doors to anyone willing to pursue a better future. We do not measure success by exclusivity. We measure success by transformation.
Every August, I watch students arrive on our campus carrying hopes that far exceed the contents of their backpacks. Some are the first in their families to attend college. Others are veterans beginning a second career, parents balancing work and family, high school students taking their first college course, or adults working toward a GED to rewrite the story of their lives. Their circumstances are different, but they all share the same hope — that education will create possibilities that did not exist yesterday.
That is the promise of a community college.
A broader mission
Calls for transparent admissions, affordable education, workforce preparation and service to the American people have always been central to our mission. Community colleges provide affordable pathways to university transfer, workforce credentials and careers that strengthen families, employers and local economies. Few public investments deliver a greater return.
Our campuses also face a different reality than many large universities. While much of the national conversation centers on selective admissions or ideological debates, we are helping students overcome food insecurity, housing instability, childcare challenges, transportation barriers and financial hardship. We provide second chances and clear pathways to opportunity.
Our work is to expand opportunity and change lives.
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Completion is an important milestone, but it is not the destination. Success is achieved only when students transfer successfully or secure employment that changes the trajectory of their lives. That is how community colleges create upward economic mobility — for individuals, families and communities.
Here in Texas, community colleges work hand in hand with employers to prepare the talent our economy requires while ensuring students have clear pathways to meaningful careers. Workforce development and student success are not competing priorities — they are mutually reinforcing.
An open invitation
Secretary McMahon is right to challenge higher education to strengthen public trust. My hope is that, as this conversation continues, community colleges will be recognized not as an afterthought, but as a model for many of the values she rightly champions.
I invite Secretary McMahon — and anyone helping shape the future of higher education—to visit a community college. Come meet the students whose determination inspires us, the faculty and staff whose commitment changes lives, and the employers whose future depends upon a highly skilled workforce. I would be honored to welcome Secretary McMahon to Victoria College to see what we witness every day: community colleges preparing the talent America needs, transforming lives, strengthening communities, and keeping the American Dream within reach for millions of students.
America needs community colleges not simply because they are affordable, but because they open doors that change lives, strengthen communities and create opportunity for generations to come.
That is how we define excellence.
Not by whom we exclude.
But by the lives we transform.
