The Community College Education Programs and Services unit of the National Office was created to support the needs of the growing population of community and two-year college member professionals and member schools in the Association. Because the needs of community colleges and the professionals working in them are often uniquely different from those of four-year colleges and universities, NASPA has addressed this need with the addition of a full-time staff person to work specifically with the professionals from these schools. With more than 11 million students and 6.6 million in credit courses, community colleges educate approximately 46% of all U. S. undergraduates (AACC Fast Facts at www.aacc.nche.edu). To this end, NASPA has identified this niche for future growth.

Distinctive for its open door admissions policies, workforce training, quick responses to changing needs in society, introduction to information technology and most recently, first responders for Homeland Security needs, the community college has secured its place in the history of higher education in America. Community colleges continue to be the primary door to accessibility, and educational opportunity, while insuring diversity in post-secondary education. Community Colleges must continue to embrace an agenda that addresses the impact of teaching and learning, and ways to measure outcomes, if they are to retain their important place in higher education. Community Colleges have always been considered non-traditional in the historical sense, because they make little attempt to change the values of their students, as was the goal of many of the early residential colleges. Community colleges follow few traditions, take students where they are, and teach them to respond quickly to the changes in their environment.

Community and two-year colleges may want to adapt traditional learning experiences to address the needs of today's students with more transformative approaches such as service learning, learning communities and internships. Learning Reconsidered (2004) suggests that to support today's learning outcomes, the focus of dedication must shift from information transfer to identity development. Each institution should define the goals of a college education and establish the specific learning outcomes for each of it's degrees. "Learning is included in a much larger context that requires consideration of what students know, who they are, what their values and behavior patterns are and how they see themselves contributing to and participating in the world in which they live". (ACPA & NASPA (2004). Learning Reconsidered: a Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience)

Defining learning in terms that include identity and development of the whole student further validates our mission in student affairs.