The Houston Chronicle followed a couple of community college students who were able to make the transition to a four-year institution and have earned -- or are on their way to earning -- degrees. Community colleges have received renewed attention during the recession as rising college costs burden families with little disposable income to spare, and since President Obama made two-year schools part of the focus of the student loan reform bill that passed with health-care reform.
But as the story points out, students who make the transfer successfully are rare. A 2001 study found that 71 percent of students who enrolled in community colleges wanted a bachelor's degree, but only about a quarter ended up transferring to a four-year college. Those who were more likely to do so were those who had a specific plan from the beginning: those pursuing an academic major and taking bachelor's degree credit courses.
The profiles of the students in the Chronicle show that that's pretty much still true:
Community college students often have trouble transferring because they don't know how to do it, but [Rebecca] Morgan, 41, made it work by checking with advisers at both schools every semester.
“I'm not afraid to ask a question,” she said.
The problem for many low-income students, who are the most likely to benefit from saving money by starting out at a community college, is that they are less likely than middle-class students to have the resources and skills to advocate for themselves. A Washington state program learned that low-income students suffer from a lack of confidence and a general fear that they won't be able to make college work for them. That, compounded with the likelihood that they're less ready for college and less able to afford to go, presents a big hurdle for their ability to transfer out.
For-profit institutions are promising to help many low-income students get better jobs but are charging them much more to do so. They more actively recruit students, because it's in their benefit to do so, and have the resources to make enrollment easier. But their ultimate duty is not to the students, as it should be for traditional nonprofit schools. If President Obama's push to get community colleges to pledge to increase their completion rates works, it will likely help low-income students the most.
-- Monica Potts
