Once a bridge to a bachelor’s, Mass. community colleges have become career training centers

The procedures to enter the clean room at Middlesex Community College are detailed and rigorous: students must thoroughly wash their hands and don personal protective equipment such as gloves, a hair net, long lab gown, face mask and safety glasses.

Once inside the lab space, the students work with live cells for assignments, observing cancer cell growth patterns and analyzing cell chromosomes.

Everything about the clean room at Middlesex was designed to mirror an actual pharmaceutical company lab, starting with its decontamination procedures.

“Everything that you’re making, everything that you’re touching is destined to go in someone’s body,” said Veronica Tay, a lab technician who graduated from Middlesex last year. “You have to keep your eye on the prize.”

Scores of Massachusetts students like Tay have joined the school’s biotechnology associate degree and certificate program, which prepares students for careers in the region’s biotechnology industry. The STEM program is one of many workforce-training pathways attracting students to a community college education in Massachusetts.

The renewed interest in the Middlesex program comes as college enrollment nationwide bounces back after a near-decade decline magnified by the pandemic. According to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, undergraduate enrollment at the state’s institutions of higher learning grew by about 3% in fall 2023 compared to the previous year. Leading the way in that growth are the state’s community colleges.

The students returning to community college classrooms are less interested in earning a bachelor’s degree. They’re coming for vocational training and high-tech skills.

“[Students today] want to get certified in a particular area or they want to get an associates degree that will allow them to immediately go out into the workforce so we’re trying to make sure we update the facilities to do that,” said Middlesex Community College President Phil Sisson.

Creating more lab space and “hands-on experiences,” he said, is now part of the school’s “master [facilities] plan.”

Middlesex’s biotech program has been around for more than 30 years. But about 10 years ago, officials decided to reinvest into the major, which included building the clean room lab. That was when Massachusetts’ community colleges started to move away from their traditional role as a stepping stone to a four-year degree. Today, they’re more of a training ground for high-tech and vocational jobs in the region, according to higher ed officials.

“They are playing an increasing role in linking people directly to employment opportunities, particularly in that modern technician space,” said Bob LePage, Massachusetts’ assistant secretary for career education.

The biggest growth area in community colleges now is in newer environmentally-friendly heating, ventilation and air conditioning technologies like heat pump installation, according to LePage. Cybersecurity is popular, too.

“It’s become more visible, in part because of market demand,” LePage said. “And in part because individuals are thirsting for upward mobility.”

In recent months, Massachusetts’ free community college initiatives have turbo-charged the trend to go back to school for workforce training. New state initiatives like MassEducate, which offers free college tuition and fees to most state residents who don’t already have a degree, has made enrolling in school a lot more affordable. The Middlesex Community College biotechnology program, without financial assistance, costs about $13,000 per year. New graduates can find jobs locally with starting salaries of over $55,000 a year, according to school officials.

The Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges estimates that community colleges statewide have seen 10,000 new students enroll this semester compared to last fall, though it’s unclear what percent are enrolled in MassEducate.

Brendan Hughes, public relations director at Bunker Hill Community College, said the interest in vocational training is widespread.

“I think with the pandemic receding further into the rearview mirror, people are really ready to come back,” he said.

In addition to growing the supply of workers with special skills, community college graduates tend to come from diverse age and cultural backgrounds. Student diversity was precisely what drew Megan Guros to Middlesex Community College’s biotech program a few years ago when she was in her late 30s.

“There’s all ages, all backgrounds and all ethnicities,” Guros said of her peers. “And I feel like that really makes the experience stronger.”

And these college programs have an added advantage of connecting students directly to local employers. Eversource partners with Bunker Hill to host an internship for students. That gives students a window into the industry, according to recent intern Kevin Brito.

“I’m able to see everything we’re learning in class,” he said.

Brito, who enrolled in MassReconnect, a free tuition program for residents over 25, said he hopes to leave college with a lucrative career — and without tens of thousands of dollars in student loans hanging over his head.

“It helps that that stress [of repaying large loans] is not there,” said Brito. “It removes the mental load.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.