29-04-2025
What would a new name mean for Hillsborough Community College?
Allyssa Camper squinted into the sunlight at the giant blue letters that adorn each building on Hillsborough Community College's Dale Mabry campus.
'HCC,' she said. 'H-C-C. It kind of rolls off your tongue.'
Camper is 19, a liberal arts major and one of the more than 48,000 students who attend the college at least part-time. But when she graduates next year, her diploma might say something different.
Florida Senate is considering a bill (SB 1624) that would rename Hillsborough Community College to Hillsborough College. The bill has been scheduled to be heard on the Senate floor for two weeks.
A House version of the bill (HB 1307), which would opt for Hillsborough State College, has yet to make it out of a subcommittee in that chamber.
Either way, 'community' will soon be dropped from HCC's name. It's the last of the state's 28 public colleges to lose the community nomenclature.
It's part of a longstanding trend. Colleges across the county are offering more four-year degree and changing their names to reflect the blurring lines between themselves and traditional universities, according to Inside Higher Ed. Nationwide, more than 40 two-year institutions dropped 'community' from their names from 2004 to 2014, according to data collected by the Wall Street Journal.
The name change also signals a perceived souring on the 'community college' brand as schools look to distance themselves from the term's association with an inferior education.
Among current and former students, opinions are mixed on the name change. Some worry the renaming portends more changes to the school they see as a lifeline to an affordable, quality education. Others welcome the rebrand, mostly as a step away from the stigma carried by the phrase 'community college.'
The name change isn't exactly a hot topic among HCC students. Most surveyed on recent trips to HCC's Ybor City and Dale Mabry campuses either hadn't heard about the proposal or had no strong opinion.
Camper said she doesn't think the name change would impact the school's reputation as part of the community.
'Each of the campuses has such a distinct personality and is so embedded in its community,' Camper said. 'The brand is already so established, starting when you're a high school student doing dual-enrollment. I don't think the name change will affect what the school is already accomplishing.'
The 'state college' title may even help the school attract more students, Camper said.
'It sounds a little bit better to me. I wouldn't mind if my degree said Hillsborough State College,' she said.
The school opened in 1968 as Hillsborough Junior College, changing its name to Hillsborough Community College two years later 'to better reflect its community orientation and involvement,' according to the school's website.
Colleges can drop the 'community' nomenclature or switch to 'state college' once they start offering bachelor's degrees. HCC's first four-year degree, in nursing, started in 2022.
The school's board of trustees support the name change, Chairperson Gregory Celestan said, adding that it aligns with the other schools in the Florida College system and will 'lead to enhanced academic pathways.'
On the other hand, Echo Durham, a graphic design major, called the rebrand 'a stupid, embarrassing thing to spend our money on.'
The 23-year-old worried that the school would divert resources away from serving students and that the new name could signal a change in mission away from affordable courses.
'I didn't want the pressure of going to a state university,' Durham said. 'Here I can take a few classes and find my passion because the stakes were relatively low.'
She'd seen her own mother take on student loan debt from multiple graduate degrees.
'The campus feels like a community without judgement,' Durham said. 'HCC takes everyone, regardless of income or being an A+ student.'
Companies rebrand for a variety of reasons: to attract customers, to react to the market, and to stay relevant. But in any case, rebranding works best when it's reflective of the wants and needs of the target customers, said Loran Jarrett, a professor of marketing at the University of South Florida's Muma School of Business.
'Think of Coke's rebranding to New Coke in the '80s. There was horrible pushback because they had this idea and weren't listening to what their customers wanted,' she said.
'Rebranding comes with a cost,' she said. And it's often more than just new signs.
So why change the HCC brand now?
'First off, they have to determine, is it just a name or does it go beyond that? It is what they offer? Is it cultural? Is it voice?' she said. But if the state is looking to shed the 'community college' stigma, there's reason to be cautious.
Nearly half of Americans said they had at least 'quite a lot' of confidence in community colleges, according to a 2024 Gallup poll. Only a third said the same about four-year programs. That confidence has stayed strong even as the public's perception of higher education has fallen in the past decade.
And the confidence in the country's two-year programs holds up across party lines, with 36% of Republicans approving of community colleges, compared to just 15% who support four-year colleges and universities.
'Education as a whole is really shifting for a lot of reasons, but a big one is the rising cost,' Jarratt said.
'But for community college, cost has essentially stayed the same. Whatever you get out of that with your (associate's degree) is pretty high value,' she said. 'At the end of the day people don't ask, 'Where did you go all four years?''
Ian Hodgson is an education reporter for the Tampa Bay Times, working in partnership with Open Campus.
