The Challenge of Resource Sharing.

Although public community colleges have a better enrollment future than other institutions of higher education, the rapid growth rates of the past will not continue into the future. Furthermore, higher education can no longer expect the same increases in its share of federal monies that it enjoyed in the sixties. Considering these facts, and the fact that educational costs rise faster than the economy as a whole since there are no increases in productivity accompanying increases in salaries, it is evident that community colleges face a great challenge to cut expenditures in an attempt to do more with less. Through its participation in CAPES (Council for Area Planning of Educational Services), Waubonsee Community College (WCC) has attempted to do more with less by avoiding unnecessary duplication and encouraging shared facilities and programs. CAPES includes educational institutions at all levels, from elementary schools to a university; it also includes public and private institutions and formal as well as informal educational institutions. This document reviews the founding, organization, successes, and failures of CAPES. It also reviews enrollment and financial projections for higher education in general, and for community colleges in particular, for the remainder of the twentieth century. (DC)