For immediate release

February 6, 2008

MEDIA ADVISORY

Hundreds of Students from Maryland’s 16 community colleges
to meet with legislators in Annapolis on Student Advocacy Day

Students will urge legislators to back Governor’s increase of capital, operating funds

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008

9:15 a.m. Kickoff Event
Miller Senate Office Building (Presidential Conference Room), Annapolis

12:30 p.m. – Front steps of the State House
Additional photo opportunity/media availabilities with students, college presidents, lawmakers

(Annapolis, MD) – Hundreds of students from Maryland’s 16 community colleges will head to the State Capital to meet with lawmakers and to urge them to support a much-needed expansion of capital funding for community college projects across the state. Students will also ask legislators to protect the increase in operating funding that the colleges would receive next year, under the guidelines of the recently revamped Cade funding formula that determines the annual allotment for each institution.

Students from each of the state’s community colleges will gather for the kickoff of the “Student Advocacy Day” event at 9:15 a.m. in the Presidential Conference Room of the Miller Senate Office Building. Along with student leaders, key Maryland lawmakers and community college presidents will be among the speakers. After the gathering, students will visit their respective Delegates and Senators from their local delegations.

While advocating for budget and legislative priorities of their colleges, students will also seek to raise awareness of the important role played by Maryland’s community colleges in higher education, including the following facts:

• About 62 percent of Maryland’s high school graduates who go to college in the state attend community colleges, and more than half of all of the state’s students in undergraduate programs at public institutions are enrolled in community colleges; and
• Nearly 500,000 Marylanders attend community colleges each year, through a combination of credit and non-credit, continuing education programs.

CCBC President Sandra Kurtinitis and approximately 35 students will be traveling from the Community College of Baltimore County to Annapolis to participate in this event. They are fully prepared to ask legislators to support the Governor’s budget in regard to community colleges and thank legislators for support of the Governor’s capital appropriation for community colleges which includes funding for a new library at CCBC Catonsville.