A very rough road for community college students, By Carla Rivera, February 21, 2012, Los Angeles Times: “Foster Washington knows the odds are against him. The Los Angeles Southwest College student is a 20-year-old from a tough neighborhood in Watts where, he says, there was little encouragement or preparation for college. Recent studies suggest that students such as Washington are the least likely to stay in school, get a degree or transfer to a four-year university, hampering their future job prospects. But Washington is determined to be the first college graduate in his family of 12 siblings. Southwest, part of the nine-campus Los Angeles Community College District, is trying to fulfill his goal through new programs focused on intensive tutoring, faculty training and helping students adjust to college life…”
Tag: Community colleges
Community College Dropout Rates
- Study: Community college dropout rate costly, By Paul Takahashi, October 20, 2011, Las Vegas Sun: “Dropping out of school carries a high cost – and it’s not just to the student. A new report analyzing spending on community college dropouts nationally found that failing to graduate cost taxpayers nearly $4 billion at the federal, state and local levels over a five-year period. In Nevada, the cost of funding community college students who dropped out after one year was estimated at $8.8 million between 2004 and 2009, according to the report released Thursday by the American Institutes for Research – a Washington, D.C. – based nonprofit, nonpartisan research group…”
- High cost of first-year community college dropouts, By Nanette Asimov, October 20, 2011, San Francisco Chronicle: “Like making a bad bet in Vegas, taxpayers gamble hundreds of millions of dollars a year on community college students who quit as freshmen – many in California. A new study shows that from 2004 to 2009, Americans spent nearly $4 billion on full-time students who dropped out after one year and didn’t transfer. California’s first-year dropouts benefited from $480 million in tax-funded grants and allocations in that time – more than any other state – says the study, ‘The Hidden Costs of Community Colleges,’ from the nonpartisan American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C…”
Community College Enrollment – Michigan
Community colleges taking hits in Michigan, By David Jesse, September 30, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “Fewer students are enrolling and others are taking lighter class loads at Michigan’s community colleges, the result of federal worker retraining money drying up and health care reform that expanded a student exception to insurance rules. Federal health care law now allows part-time students to stay on their parents’ health insurance policies, which could account for a decline in credit hours as students look to save money by paring class loads. Enrollment at Michigan’s 28 community colleges is down 4% compared to last fall, and the number of credit hours taken is down 6%. Falling credit hours is a bigger deal to school officials than enrollment, because tuition revenue is based on classes taken and not enrollment…”