Community Colleges

Illinois is devoting more and more money to vocational education for programs like truck driving and collision repair. At Rock Valley College, students can receive training and get a job in just a few weeks AND do it all for free. WNIJ’s Peter Medlin reports…

During the first week of classes, College of DuPage faculty voted to authorize a strike. Thursday afternoon, they rallied in 100 degree heat for a new contract.

Enrollment fell hard at most community colleges during the pandemic. At schools like Waubonsee Community College, it’s starting to come back up. But one of their programs roared back -- enrollment in adult education more than doubled this fall. WNIJ’s Peter Medlin has more on what adult education even is…and why the demand for it is so high.

We talk with future educators, a teacher who thought they might be quitting the classroom soon, & a professor who professes her love of the liberal arts

Even though it’s still a semi, the truck he’s behind the wheel of is a far cry from what he drove during his time as a long-haul driver. For one, it doesn’t have a cassette tape deck like the one he started with in the ‘90s. No, Kishwaukee College just invested in a brand-new 2023 Volvo semi-truck for the training program.

“You read articles about the opioid epidemic, but what does that mean? It's just words on a page. When you hear the stories of families of people who were loved and cared for who have passed, it really takes on another dimension.”

It’s common for cybersecurity of automotive technology students to earn a credential in a year or two and make close to six figures, or more, right out of the gate.

Some Illinois public universities are mandating vaccines. Community colleges are not, but they still have restrictions in place.

President Joe Biden stopped by a northern Illinois community college to talk about investing in "human infrastructure" like free college and affordable childcare.

Illinois community colleges lost a lot of students during the pandemic -- enrollment fell 14%. Only a few schools increased their total number of…