Giving Compass' Take:

• Community colleges are on the rise as a more attractive, cost-efficient way to get a degree and career training. Here, EdSurge details what's to come in 2019 for such institutions.

• How can our higher ed system create more interactive, immersive and affordable programs? What might donors do to help the workforce’s ability to promote upward mobility?

• Here's more on the value of accessible education.

Community colleges have long served the U.S. by providing access to career and technical training, as well as quality education in the liberal arts, mathematics and sciences. Much has changed since the humble beginnings of community colleges, though. Now, as we enter into 2019, many core elements of the community college sector are threatened due to anecdotal student success metrics, broken funding models, and increased public skepticism over the value of higher education.

Higher education has yet to embrace strategies that align K-12 education with college and career pathways.

Worsening this issue that many families aren’t familiar with the higher-ed landscape and the opportunities that community college can open up for their children. In 2019, improving the way we connect K-12 to higher education—and bringing families into the conversation about college and career pathways—will be key issues to tackle.

Read the full article about community colleges by Mordecai I. Brownlee at EdSurge.