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Raw Blame History

Working Group Notes — Microcredential Program

Branfield Community College Meeting: 2026-04-22 Attendees: Provost, Workforce Dev Director, Chair of Industry Advisory Board, two faculty leads (Data Analytics, Healthcare Admin), Financial Aid Director

Why we're doing this

Regional employer survey (Q1 2026) showed 340+ unfilled mid-skill jobs in the three-county area. State workforce board approved a $1.4M grant if we can launch by fall 2027 with at least three tracks. Existing AAS programs are too long for working adults — average completion 3.5 years.

What we're building

Six-month stackable microcredentials. Three tracks at launch:

Data Analytics (SQL, Excel/Power BI, intro Python). Faculty lead Marisol Reyes. Strongest employer demand. Will be MVP — first to launch, used to validate format.
Healthcare Admin (medical coding, EHR systems, patient workflow). Faculty lead Dev Patel. Aging population in region drives demand.
Sustainable Construction (green building practices, retrofit basics, code compliance). New faculty hire required.

Stackable means credits transfer into related AAS or BAS later if the student wants.

Decisions made today

Data Analytics is MVP. Launch fall 2027, others phase in spring/fall 2028. Validate format before scaling.
Hybrid delivery. Two evenings/week in person + asynchronous online. Board rejected pure-online (concerns about adult learner outcomes data).
Stipend program. Up to $3,000/student for low-income students, funded from the state grant. Means-tested.
Industry Advisory Board has approval authority on curriculum. Three employers committed (regional hospital, mid-size data consultancy, county housing authority). All three commit to interview every graduate.
Cohort cap: 24 per track per term. Driven by classroom size and faculty load.

Open questions

Childcare for evening sessions — can we partner with the campus childcare center? Deferred to next meeting.
Marketing — provost wants to know cost per enrolled student before approving budget. Need workforce dev to model.
Do we offer a tuition payment plan in addition to the stipend? Financial aid director thinks yes; provost wants to see uptake projections first.

What we're NOT doing

Not pursuing pure-online delivery (rejected — see above).
Not launching all three tracks at once (rejected — risk concentration, faculty bandwidth).
Not building employer-customized cohorts (rejected — too operationally complex for MVP).

Next steps

Workforce Dev: marketing cost model by 2026-05-15.
Provost: childcare partnership exploratory conversation.
Faculty leads: draft data analytics curriculum outline by 2026-06-01.
Reconvene 2026-05-20.

2.7 KiB Raw Blame History