General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Education and America .. WTF is wrong? [View all]mike_c
(36,270 posts)You make an interesting point about community colleges. I learned some interesting statistics recently. I'm quoting from memory, so the precise numbers will be inaccurate, but we (faculty union representatives) were speaking with my university president and provost about enrollment trends and the conversation turned to our local community college. We're in northern California. Of course, one of the stated objectives of the community college system is to provide inexpensive lower division curriculum alternatives that serve to feed transfer students to baccalaureate institutions.
My campus is fairly remote within the CSU system, and I believed that our local community college was instrumental in directing students from the surrounding region into baccalaureate programs here. Turns out I was mistaken. Although many of our transfer students do come from community colleges, individual community colleges often don't feed a large proportion of students into four year institutions. Fewer than five percent of the students at our local community college transfer to baccalaureate programs, despite articulation agreements that make it straightforward. When we look at campus diversity the situation is even worse-- underrepresented minority students who start at community college are significantly LESS likely to complete a four year degree program than minority students who begin at baccalaureate schools.
It turns out that MOST of the students at our regional community college are not on an academic trajectory at all. Most are taking remedial (high school) or vocational training. The problem is so acute that our regional community college is beginning to give up the pretense and is cutting academic programs in favor of vocational and lifestyle courses.