GREENPORT — Columbia-Greene County Community College’s microcredentials in cannabis have proven to be widely popular with Greene County students. The short term courses of study include Cannabis Retail and Sales and Cannabis Cultivation and Processing.
The college first introduced its offerings in cannabis training in the fall, after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced in July that all SUNY and CUNY community colleges would receive $5 million in funding toward programming that would prepare students to work in the cannabis industry.
“One of our most popular microcredentials is in cannabis,” said Carlee Drummer, C-GCC’s president. “Cannabis retail sales and cultivation has been an incredibly popular course since the legalization of marijuana.”
Maureen Sager, the college’s communications director, said many students are enrolling for the credential because peoples’ career ambitions changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think that the cannabis program was a chance for people to see a new career path,” Sager said. “There were so many people during COVID who emerged with a new idea for what to do.”
The Twin Counties have a promising future in the industry, Sager said. Because the region is rural and many towns have already passed ordinances allowing for the opening of cannabis businesses, there will be a great number of opportunities in the near future for careers in the cannabis business.
“We will be having cannabis cafes throughout Greene County.” Sager said. “Some towns have passed that ordinance, and we [will] have prepared a highly skill workforce.”
The cannabis microdential program is not the only program at the college that has recently seen robust enrollment figures. The spring 2023 semester is the second semester in a row where the college has seen a growth in the amount of students registering for classes.
“I can tell you that as of today we’re up 12% in head count and 14% increase in full-time equivalency,” Drummer said.
Drummer said full-time equivalency is how many credit hours each student is taking.
“I believe students are very pleased with the various modalities we have, not only in-person but we have synchronous, asynchronous, hybrid and hi-flex classes,” Drummer said. “Students whose lives are incredibly full with family obligations and work are enrolling.”
The college will host an open house on March 25. To register for the open house, go to https://go.sunycgcc.edu/springopenhouse04022022/inquiryform
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