PLEASE NOTE! THIS EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER CONDITIONS!

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2007

9:30 a.m. Kickoff Event

Miller Senate Office Building (Presidential Conference Room), Annapolis

12:30 p.m. – Front steps of the State House

Additional Photo Opportunity/Media Availabilities with Students, College Presidents, Lawmakers

(Annapolis, MD) – Hundreds of students from Maryland’s 16 community colleges will head to the State Capital to meet with lawmakers and to urge them to support the community colleges’ capital funding and other legislative initiatives vital to the continued success of the two-year public institutions. Community colleges now enroll over half of the state’s college students in undergraduate programs with one third of the space available for public higher education.

Students will ask legislators to support funding for 38 capital projects at 13 community colleges across the state. Students will also urge legislators to honor their six year commitment to enhancing state funding for community colleges. Legislators will be asked to allocate a greater portion of need-based student financial aid funds to students attending community colleges.

Students from each of the state’s community colleges will gather for the kickoff of the “Student Advocacy Day” event at 9:30 a.m. in the Presidential Conference Room of the Miller Senate Office Building. Along with student leaders, key Maryland lawmakers and community college presidents will be among the speakers. After the gathering, students will visit their respective Delegates and Senators, from their local delegations.

While advocating for budget and legislative priorities of their colleges, students will also seek to raise awareness of the important role played by Maryland’s community colleges in higher education, including the fact that:

• About 62 percent of Maryland’s high school graduates who go to college in the state attend community colleges, and more than half of all of the state’s students in undergraduate programs at public institutions are enrolled in community colleges; and

• Nearly 500,000 Marylanders, including about 120,000 students in credit programs and 371,000 in continuing education and workforce development courses, annually attend community colleges.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Steve Simon, Montgomery College, 301-251-7952; (cell) 240-461-0333

Hope H. Davis, Community College of Baltimore County, 410-869-7153; (cell) 410-971-5560

Randy Bengfort, Howard Community College, 410-772-4811; (cell) 410-409-0533

# # #

Back to Web View