
HBS Skydeck: Boosting Community College Outcomes
From HBS Managing the Future of Work by Harvard Business School
May 29, 2026 · 15 min
About this episode
Aarti Dhupelia discusses the value of community colleges and the support provided by One Million Degrees.
We present a recent episode of the HBS SkyDeck alumni podcast featuring Aarti Dhupelia (MBA 2005), CEO of One Million Degrees. The nonprofit supports community college students through career development, paid internships, and financial incentives tied to academic progress. Dhupelia discusses why community colleges are too often viewed as a fallback option despite offering an affordable, career-focused post-secondary path, and why employers should take a closer look at the talent and resilience community college graduates bring to the workforce.
People in this episode
Guest: Aarti Dhupelia
Topics covered
- community colleges
- career development
- internships
- education
- workforce
Keywords
- community college
- career-focused education
- paid internships
- academic progress
- workforce talent
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: One Million Degrees, Harvard Business School
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