Some good news for Danville Area Community College and all community colleges arrived late last week. The Illinois Community College Board released a study showing the impact of the schools on students and the Illinois economy. Summarizing, the study says you have 48 community colleges in Illinois contributing an overall 3.5 billion dollars in economic output throughout local communities. DACC president Dr. Stephen Nacco says, this is no surprise.
AUDIO: It just reinforces things that those of us in community colleges understood for quite a while: That community colleges, in terms of higher ed, are the gold standard among returns on investment. And what we do in terms of helping people just advance their educational levels, job prospects, their pay, and ultimately their qualify of life….
DACC spokesperson Lara Conklin, who helped collect the data for this study, says quality of life for the entire community is what community colleges are all about.
AUDIO: It doesn’t just benefit the person who gets their degree. Yes, it also benefits their family, but then the entire community benefits from folks who are; if they make more money, they spend more money; if they have a good job, they have good benefits, so they have health insurance, which cuts down on emergency room visits, and it brings up the overall health of the community.
Dr. Nacco says he believes that Danville and Vermilion County have both understood the value of their community college for a long time.
