Earlier this month the presidents and chancellors of Missouri’s community colleges were called to a meeting to review the Missouri House’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget recommendation for the community college sector. While the overall sector budget reflects no reduction, the proposed redistribution of funds would result in deep cuts for several institutions, most notably St. Louis Community College (STLCC), which would face a 19.7% reduction, or $9.3 million.
This recommendation is based on a simplified formula that counts only credit full time equivalent (FTE) student enrollment. While easy to calculate, it fails to reflect the true scope, cost, and value of the education and workforce training provided in the St. Louis region. As a result, it unfairly penalizes STLCC, its students, and critically, the employers who rely on a strong, skilled talent pipeline.
The proposed funding reduction harms the St. Louis region and the state economy because:
It does not account for investment needed for high-demand workforce programs.
STLCC has expanded its workforce and career programs significantly in response to clear employer demand in health care, advanced manufacturing, IT, financial services, transportation, and geospatial technologies.
- As an example, the College now offers 21 health care programs and has grown its registered nursing program to more than 800 students, in fields where statewide employer shortages remain acute. Health care programs require high-cost technical components. To achieve a scale of this magnitude, the College needs both local and state taxes to meet the needs of area hospitals, which have an RN vacancy rate of over 2,000 nurses. Reducing our core funding would result in an immediate reduction in available seats and nursing graduates.
- These programs cost significantly more to operate due to specialized equipment, clinical partnerships, and accreditation requirements.
It ignores STLCC’s substantial non-credit and employer-driven training.
STLCC serves approximately 34,000 learners annually across credit and non-credit programs. Thousands of these students participate in fast-track workforce training, apprenticeships, and customized corporate training. The proposed funding does not account for any non-credit students.
- For example, the College recently expanded its Boeing training program to support defense and commercial aircraft produced in St. Louis, an industry that anchors thousands of jobs and contributes billions to the state economy.
It abandons the long-standing, collaboratively developed funding framework.
Missouri’s 12 community colleges long ago agreed on a fair and balanced methodology for distributing state resources. Deviating from that model without considering program mix, cost structure, or regional economic needs destabilizes statewide planning for institutions and communities.
It undermines state policy goals and recent enrollment growth.
STLCC has followed the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education’s directive to expand workforce and career programs. These efforts are working: the College has experienced over 20% enrollment growth in the past three years. Reducing funding now would reverse that momentum and severely limit the College’s ability to respond to employer demand at a time when Missouri faces workforce shortages in nearly every major industry sector. A reduction in funding would also cause the College to eliminate high-need services, such as childcare, which helps parents stay enrolled and succeed in college.
According to the Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development website, “A skilled, prepared, and motivated workforce is necessary to attract and retain businesses in Missouri… Apprenticeships and on-the-job training, short-term certificates, associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, and beyond all contribute to the economic health of the state.”
The long-term impact hurts St. Louis employers and job growth.
A nearly 20% cut to STLCC’s state allocation would reverberate across the St. Louis region, impacting employers struggling to hire, weakening critical industry sectors, and reducing the state’s long-term economic competitiveness. It would slow or halt program expansions just as Missouri’s economy needs more trained workers, not fewer. It also reduces opportunities for Missouri residents to earn stable, family-sustaining wages, enabling them to thrive.
