Mississippi Today reported that a proposal introduced in January by Rep. Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, would have merged six community college districts into three, reducing the number of districts from 15 to 12. The bill died in committee, but it intensified a broader conversation about the future of the state's public colleges.
“I wanted to start a conversation,” Lamar told Mississippi Today. “What worked for our colleges decades ago doesn’t always work today.”
House Bill 1284 would have merged Coahoma Community College with Mississippi Delta Community College, Meridian Community College with East Mississippi Community College, and Southwest Mississippi Community College with Copiah-Lincoln Community College. The proposal would not have closed campuses. Instead, Lamar said, it was intended to reduce administrative costs and return any savings to the community college system.
Lamar also questioned the fairness of overlapping taxing districts. Meridian Community College serves Lauderdale County, which is also part of East Mississippi Community College's six-county district. Some property owners, he argued, are paying taxes to support multiple colleges.
Declining populations in some districts are another factor. Coahoma County lost about 5,000 residents between 2010 and 2020, while Sunflower County, home to Mississippi Delta Community College, lost about 4,000, according to Census data cited by Mississippi Today.
Rep. Donnie Scoggin, a Republican from Ellisville who co-chairs the House Select Committee on Consolidation, said lawmakers did not want to rush into decisions about closing or merging institutions. The committee is now examining the issue more broadly.
“We didn’t want to do anything that was rushed and just start closing colleges,” Scoggin told Mississippi Today. “But now we’re taking time to examine all factors to make informed and better decisions.”
The proposal nevertheless sparked resistance from students and college supporters. Cole Cooksey, a sophomore at Southwest Mississippi Community College, started an online petition opposing the bill. It collected 750 supporters before the legislation died.
Cooksey said the college's affordability and proximity to his family in McComb made it an accessible option after high school. He warned that consolidation could undermine opportunities for students in rural and underserved communities.
Pernell Goodwin, vice president of Copiah-Lincoln Community College's Natchez campus, raised similar concerns, telling Mississippi Today that forcing students to travel farther could increase costs and make college less accessible.
“It was to ensure that no matter where a student attends college, he is at least within a certain distance from his home to get to campus and access education,” Goodwin said.
The debate extends to Mississippi's eight public universities, where lawmakers are questioning enrollment, graduation rates, workforce outcomes and the cost of maintaining smaller institutions. But supporters of those campuses say consolidation could come at the expense of affordable, accessible higher education.
Bruce Hanson, a former state representative who chairs the Citizens Coalition for MUW and Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, told Mississippi Today that smaller institutions contribute to their communities and the state's workforce.
“If these institutions disappear, where will the children in our community go?”
