Program Prioritization Practices at Community Colleges

As community college funding continues to diminish and finances become increasingly tight, difficult decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources must be made. The focus on completion rates driven by political and public demand for accountability makes the wise allocation of college resources even more critical. These competing challenges can only be met by realizing gains in efficiency.
Prioritization is a process by which a framework of defined criteria and measures are used to make consistent and informed decisions to ensure that resources are allocated or reallocated strategically and efficiently. Prioritization can be used as a tool to help community college leaders decide what programs and services should be phased out, what programs and services should be infused with resources, and what new programs and services should be developed. Ultimately, the goal of prioritization is to use valid and reliable data to inform holistic resource allocation decisions to refocus on the core mission, while improving efficiencies and quality.
The purpose of this research was to evaluate the state of prioritization work at community colleges; share best practices, success factors, and pitfalls to avoid; and encourage and improve prioritization efforts. It is the hope of the researcher that this study will inform and improve prioritization practices and outcomes at community colleges. It is also hoped that this study will encourage more community college leaders to embark on a prioritization journey as a strategy to support and advance the community college mission.