Community Colleges
Community College
When President Obama proposed the American Graduation Initiative during a July 2009 speech at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., he brought “unprecedented” attention to community colleges, institutions that in some ways had previously been overlooked in higher education policy. Six years later, he upped the ante by announcing his America’s College Promise proposal, an initiative that would two years of community college free “for everybody who;s willing to work for it.”
As policymakers look for ways to train people for the jobs that are available and increase the number of adults who have earned a postsecondary degree or certificate, the role of community colleges in postsecondary education is being re-examined and, ultimately perhaps, redefined. This Topics section focuses on the evolving role of community colleges, by gathering research, news articles and other resources that examine these institutions.
As of January 2015, there were just over 1,100 community colleges, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. The vast majority (986) were public institutions, but there were 115 independent community colleges, plus another 31 tribal campuses. And, contrary to some perceptions, not all of these institutions are commuter campuses: More than 100 community colleges offer on-campus housing to students.
Public community colleges traditionally have offered among the most accessible and affordable options in higher education, with an average annual tuition in 2010-2011 that stood at $2,713 compared with $7,605 at four-year public colleges. These institutions, where the highest degree offered usually is a two-year associate’s degree, offer specific career training and education as well as some entry-level college courses to more than 12 million students—most of whom attend part-time and are disproportionately low-income, first-generation and academically underprepared.
The accessibility of community colleges is often cited as both their main benefit and criticized as their biggest weakness. By enrolling students who might not be able or inclined to pursue college otherwise, community colleges expand access to higher education, advocates say. But there are critics who argue that the disparate demographics between the student make-up of two-year colleges and four-year colleges essentially show that universities are being relieved of accountability for educating some types of students and that these groups are being deprived of full academic opportunities.
Graduation Rates
Regardless of perspective, nearly everyone who examines community
colleges express concern over the low graduation and retention
rates at these institutions. Just 60 percent of students who
attend community college full time and only 40 percent of those
who attend part time return for their second year, according to a 2011
report from the National Center for Education Statistics. The
three-year graduation rate for all community college students was
only 27 percent, the report showed.
As a result of statistics such as those, much of the research and
policy debate regarding two-year colleges focuses on improving
graduation rates. Some researchers say that part of the problem
is measurement: Community colleges tend to enroll students with
different academic goals and obligations than the students who
enroll in the traditional four-year colleges for which the
retention and graduation measures were principally designed.
Recently, the momentum has shifted in favor of the critics of current measures. In December 2011, the U.S. Department of Education’s Committee on Measures of Student Success submitted a report lamenting that federal measures of student achievement often disadvantage two-year colleges:
“Currently, the federal government gauges community college performance by calculating the percentage of first-time, full-time students that complete a degree or certificate in three or four years. … However … the measure does not accurately capture the outcomes of the many two-year college students who attend part-time, take longer than four years to complete a degree, or transfer or re-enter the workforce without obtaining a community college degree … In addition, community colleges are open-access institutions and admit many students who need remediation, which lengthens their time to a degree.”
In April 2012, the Education Department released an action plan to enact the revised graduation rate data collection policies that the committee recommended, but did not set a date for revised measurements to be in place.
Budget Cuts
Because the vast majority of the nation’s more than 1,100 community colleges are largely public institutions, they also have had to contend with significant budget cuts in recent years as states have struggled to recover economically. These cuts generally have meant that community colleges have had to limit enrollment despite increasing student demand, raise tuition, or both. Such steps have been controversial—particularly in California—because of community colleges’ historical role as open-access, affordable institutions.
Some colleges, such as Santa Monica College in California and Lone Star College in Texas have either considered or enacted differential pricing for tuition, which charge some students different prices for the same courses. Such proposals to “ration” access to courses by prioritizing students who by various measures—whether it is previous grades or financial investment—are deemed more likely to earn a degree, led to angry protests at Santa Monica in April 2012 that scuttled that pricing proposal.
The federal government has offered some assistance. Congress did not approve President Obama’s 2009 proposed American Graduation Initiative, which would have been used, among other purposes, to establish competitive grants meant to foster innovation, improve graduation rates at community colleges and modernize community college facilities. But as part of the March 2010 passage of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, Congress authorized the $2 billion Community College and Career Training Grant Program. The program appropriated $500 million to community colleges each year for fiscal years 2011 through 2014. The first round of grants was awarded in September 2011. As part of his proposed 2013 budget, Obama requested an additional $8 billion over three years for job training programs at community college.
How Can We Widen the Pathway to the Middle Class?
Webinar offers background on "middle skills" research and training programs.
One of the most important goals of America’s education system is to launch citizens into “middle class” jobs that pay enough to provide economic security. But the number of those jobs have been shrinking, and the skills needed to land the remaining middle class jobs are changing faster than many traditional educational or training programs have been able to match.
The Awkward Truth About ‘Free College’—It Isn’t Truly Free
In 2014, when Tennessee unveiled a statewide scholarship to cover tuition expenses at community colleges, the program was praised for making higher education possible for more people. It even inspired President Obama to pitch a similar federal program.
But as soon as more people showed up to campuses in 2015, Tennessee higher ed leaders discovered a problem: Students were surprised by the additional costs of going to college.
Detroit Promise Path Falls Short, But Hopes Remain
The Detroit Promise Path program would pay students a $50 monthly stipend and provide a coach to guide them toward graduation as part of a new plan available to the city’s students. But the first detailed report on the program shows mixed results. Only 7.2% of the students in the Promise Path earned certificates or a degree within three years, compared to 6.8% of those who received tuition alone. Fewer than 100 of the more than 1,000 students in the report’s study earned a degree or certificate within three years.
Pathways: The Costs, Benefits and Realities of “Free College”
“Free college” was one of President Joe Biden’s most popular campaign promises.
But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. So what’s the reality behind the free college plans? What are the costs? Are there any gotchas?
74th EWA National Seminar
Virtual, May 2-5, 2021
The Education Writers Association’s 74th National Seminar will focus on the theme of “Now What? Reporting on Education Amid Uncertainty.” Four afternoons of conversations, training and presentations will give attendees deeper understanding of these crises, as well as tools, skills and context to help them better serve their communities — and advance their careers.
To be held May 2-5, 2021, the seminar will feature education newsmakers, including leaders, policy makers, researchers, practitioners and journalists. And it will offer practical data and other skills training.
73rd EWA National Seminar
EWA’s National Seminar is the largest annual gathering of journalists on the education beat.
This multi-day conference is designed to give participants the skills, understanding, and inspiration to improve their coverage of education at all levels. It also will deliver a lengthy list of story ideas. We will offer numerous sessions on important education issues, as well as on journalism skills.
EWA Tip Sheet: Writing About Colleges’ Finances Amid Coronavirus
This post was originally published on Journalist’s Resource. It has been republished here with permission of the author.
Colleges across the country face deep financial losses after the coronavirus forced school officials to shutter campuses and cancel events. Administrators worry their money troubles will only get worse if enrollment, government funding and other sources of revenue continue to fall amid a likely recession.
When College Students Aren’t College-Ready
Thousands of students struggle at Chicago’s two-year colleges. Is an overhaul of developmental ed. programs enough to help?
(EWA Radio: Episode 231)
In Chicago, thousands of students are earning high school diplomas but showing up at the city’s two-year colleges unprepared for the next step in their academic journeys. In a new project, Kate McGee of WBEZ looked at efforts to buck that trend, including an innovative program developed not by outside experts but the system’s own faculty. Along the way, she explored a number of questions: Do students benefit more from remedial classes that re-teach them material they were supposed to master in high school, or from being placed directly into college classes with additional support like tutoring
Super Tuesday: The Education Angles
What's at stake for public education in the 2020 election?
A flurry of education-related conversation surfaced at the most recent Democratic presidential debate on Feb. 25, as candidates exchanged jabs and defended their positions on charter schools, student loan debt, and setting up young people for meaningful careers.
The 10th debate came at a pivotal moment, just days before voters in 14 states will cast their ballots on Super Tuesday (March 3). With education taking a back seat in prior debates, the rapid-fire discussion caught the attention of education journalists and pundits.
States Want To End Developmental Education. Why Chicago Professors Are Fighting Back.
Late last summer, Luis decided to attend Wilbur Wright College, one of the seven two-year community colleges that make up the City Colleges of Chicago. He received financial aid to cover tuition and books. We’re not using Luis’ last name at his request to retain some privacy online.
Luis hopes to eventually get a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and said he’s motivated by the idea of earning enough that he doesn’t have to worry about money. His mom works 12-hour days to support their large family.
The Overlooked Value of Certificates and Associate’s Degrees
Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce
Education beyond high school is now the preferred currency for workers seeking economic opportunity in the US labor market. Since the 1980s, the bachelor’s degree has been the gold standard for stable employment and lifetime earnings and the most promising route to the middle class. But it’s not the only route.
Read the full report here.
Soft Skills Training Teaches Electricians to Fix Fuses, Not Blow Them
Community colleges award budding trades workers badges in empathy
Sure, a plumber should be able to stop a leak or fix a toilet. Those job skills are essential, and easily measured.
But what about the rest of the equation — the people skills customers also want? How does an employer really know if an applicant has what it takes? Can’t there be a test or something?
Education and the American Dream: Pathways From High School to College and Careers
Northwestern University • November 14-15, 2019
What will it take to make the U.S. education system a more powerful engine for economic mobility? What are the obstacles, especially for low-income families and students of color?
At this journalists-only seminar on Nov. 14-15 in Chicago, we will explore these and other questions, with a special focus on emerging efforts to create stronger pathways from high school to college and promising careers.
The Ugly Side of Beauty Schools
Students of for-profit career programs struggle with high loan debt, low paying jobs
(EWA Radio: Episode 196)
In this replay of a recent episode of EWA Radio, Meredith Kolodner and Sarah Butrymowicz of The Hechinger Report discuss their investigation into private cosmetology schools in Iowa that are reaping big profits at the expense of their students. Students are spending upward of $20,000 to earn a cosmetology certificate—comparable to the cost of two associates’ degrees at a community college.
Why Tapping Education Researchers Pays Off
Reporters See Value in Teaming Up With Experts to Examine Data
From test scores to graduation rates, the education system is a world of numbers that can show how well policies and practices are serving students – if you know how to analyze the data.
“When there’s a data session here and you have to pick which category you’re in, I would be in the beginner category,” said Adam Tamburin, a higher education reporter for The Tennessean, during a panel at the Education Writers Association’s 2019 National Seminar in Baltimore.
Enter the trained scientists.
Can a State Help More Residents Finish College?
With 75 percent of the state’s jobs requiring postsecondary credentials, Colorado looks to boost college and career training
(EWA Radio: Episode 213)
Like many states, Colorado has set an ambitious goal for boosting the number of citizens with advanced degrees and credentials, all with an eye toward filling high-need jobs in areas like health care and manufacturing. In a five-part series, EWA Reporting Fellow Stephanie Daniel of KUNC (Northern Colorado Community Radio) looks at how the Rocky Mountain state is trying to do that:
Is Your Community’s ‘Free College’ Program ‘Bait and Switch’?
By asking the five Ws, journalists can identify the fine print in College Promise programs.
“Free college” is an increasingly popular rallying cry for politicians. There are now more than 200 programs that seek to deliver on that promise around the country, and more being proposed nearly every month.
Stories You’re Missing on Transfer Students
More than 3.7 million college students—accounting for more than a third of the nation’s undergraduate student body—are expected to transfer this year. As the end of the semester approaches, many students will be facing spring deadlines to make the jump from campus to campus.
This EWA webinar offers the opportunity to learn about one of the most under-covered—but important and timely—aspects of college admissions.
How Beauty School Students Get ‘Tangled Up in Debt’
For-profit colleges promise more than they deliver
(EWA Radio: Episode 196)
In Iowa, private cosmetology schools are reaping big profits at the expense of their students. That’s the key takeaway from a new investigation by reporters Meredith Kolodner and Sarah Butrymowicz of The Hechinger Report. Students are spending upward of $20,000 to earn a cosmetology certificate—comparable to the cost of two associates’ degrees at a community college. Additionally, Iowa’s requirement for 2,100 hours of training, significantly higher than many other states, means students have to wait longer to start their full-time careers. Additionally, they’re often required to work at their school’s salon while taking classes, and bring in revenue by selling services and products. How did Butrymowicz and Kolodner crunch the national and local numbers on outcomes for these for-profit colleges? Who’s holding such programs accountable? And what advice do they have for local reporters covering career certification programs in their own communities?
‘How I Did the Story’: Reporters Share Tips for Covering Educational Equity
Recent work by journalists Erica Green, Jason Gonzales and Matthew Kauffman shows the importance of digging into the best-laid plans of a school district or state, whether it’s desegregation efforts or sending students to college for free.
72nd EWA National Seminar
Baltimore • May 6-8, 2019
EWA’s National Seminar is the largest annual gathering of journalists on the education beat. This year’s event in Baltimore, hosted by Johns Hopkins University’s School of Education, will explore an array of timely topics of interest to journalists from across the country, with a thematic focus on student success, safety, and well-being.
New Tuition Tracker Documents Rising College Prices
Updated interactive tool shows how low-income students are being priced out of four-year colleges.
In an effort to provide clearer college affordability information to the public and media, a consortium of journalism organizations released an updated and improved “Tuition Tracker” web tool on Oct. 18, 2018.
Higher Ed ‘Deserts’: Who Lives in Them, and Why it Matters
For millions of would-be college students, convenient and affordable degree programs are out of reach
(EWA Radio: Episode 179)
About seven in 10 undergraduates are “nontraditional” students, according to the U.S. Department of Education, meaning they delayed starting college, have a job or children, or are attending part-time. Meanwhile,, millions of would-be college students live in what some have dubbed higher ed “deserts” without easy or affordable access to postsecondary education.
How Much Does College Really Cost?
Experts offer advice on reliable pricing data sources
Surveys indicate that the costs of college are now bigger worries for most applicants and families than the traditional anxieties about getting in.
It’s not just because of the shockingly high prices, such as the private colleges sporting sticker prices (tuition, room, board, books and miscellaneous expenses) north of $70,000 a year. Families are obsessed with costs in part because of the surprising complexity and opacity of college prices.
Higher Education Seminar Fall 2018
Las Vegas • UNLV • September 24-25, 2018
The Education Writers Association will hold its 2018 Higher Education Seminar Sept. 24-25 on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The theme of this year’s intensive training event for journalists will be “Navigating Rapid Change.” This journalist-only event will offer two days of high-impact learning opportunities. The seminar will focus on how both postsecondary education and journalism are adjusting to an increasingly divisive political environment, the decline of traditional revenue sources, and continuing technological innovations that are upending much of the economy.
Top Higher Ed Stories for the 2018-19 Academic Year
Politics is driving some of the hottest news stories on college campuses.
Some of the most pressing higher education stories for the next academic year will spring from the intersection of education and politics, predicts Scott Jaschik, the editor of Inside Higher Ed.
Jaschik reprised his always-popular rundown of the top higher education story ideas during the Education Writers Association’s National Seminar in May.
Hispanic, Latino, Latinx: How to Cover the Fastest-Growing Student Group
Hispanic students, who make up the second largest racial demographic in schools today, are entering college in record numbers. But they are also dropping out of college at a far higher rate than white students. That reality has important implications for our educational and economic systems and the reporters who cover them, according to a group of researchers and experts gathered at the 2018 Education Writers Association National Seminar.
Debunking the Myths Behind Student Loan Debt
College and graduate school have gotten so expensive, and lenders have been so willing to allow borrowers to put off repayment (and let the interest compound), that a few dozen Americans have managed to amass more than $1 million in student loan debt.
Beyond the Numbers: Getting the Story on Latino Education
The Fifth Annual EWA Conference for Spanish-Language Media
The Education Writers Association is pleased to partner with NAHJ to offer a 1½-day institute on covering education at the NAHJ National Conference in Miami. The July 20-21 education coverage bootcamp, which will be held in Spanish, will feature some of the most important and influential researchers and educational leaders in the field of Latino education. They will help journalists gain a better understanding of the education issues affecting Latino students in the U.S., such as the impacts of school choice, teacher demographics, and student loans. You’ll also get training on data sources that can help you buttress or generate education stories.
The Graduates
Investigative Reporting: General News Outlets, Print and Online (Small Staff)
About the Entry
David Kidwell investigated the City College of Chicago’s much-touted increase in graduation rates for the Better Government Association, which is a non-profit news and civic engagement organization.
The New Freshmen: Adult College Students
Higher ed focusing on services, programs to boost enrollment and graduation rates (EWA Radio: Episode 163)
You wouldn’t know it from most media outlets’ coverage of college, but students over the age of 24 account for more than a quarter of the nation’s undergraduates.
Word on the Beat: First-Generation Students
“Word on the Beat” is a regular feature of The Educated Reporter, breaking down the buzzwords and helping you understand the issues of the day.
Word on the beat: First-generation students
71st EWA National Seminar
Los Angeles • May 16-18, 2018
EWA’s National Seminar is the largest annual gathering of journalists on the education beat. This multiday conference provides participants with top-notch training delivered through dozens of interactive sessions on covering education from early childhood through graduate school. Featuring prominent speakers, engaging campus visits, and plentiful networking opportunities, this must-attend conference provides participants with deeper understanding of the latest developments in education, a lengthy list of story ideas, and a toolbox of sharpened journalistic skills.
How Georgia State Dramatically Changed Its Graduation Rate (and How Other Universities Can, Too)
In 2006, Georgia State University had a problem. The graduation rate was an abysmal 41 percent. And in many cases, the dropouts were seniors who just needed a few credits more to earn their bachelor’s degree.
Unlike many other colleges struggling with high dropout rates, Georgia State took (in many cases, expensive) actions that seem to have actually worked. Today, 53 percent of their freshmen graduate within six years.
Higher Ed 2017: Covering Campus Conflict in the Time of Trump
Atlanta • October 2–3, 2017
From heated debates over free speech to the Trump administration’s threats to deport undocumented students, these are tense times on college campuses. For reporters who cover higher education, questions abound and important stories need to be told.
On Oct. 2-3, EWA will bring together journalists at Georgia State University in Atlanta to explore pressing issues in education after high school. (Here’s the preliminary agenda.) At this journalist-only seminar you will hear:
Hispanics Now Nearly One-Quarter of U.S. Students, Data Reveal
New U.S. Census data show a dramatic increase in the number of Hispanics attending school, reaching nearly 18 million in 2016. The figure — which covers education at all levels — is double the total 20 years earlier.
“Hispanic students now make up 22.7 percent of all people enrolled in school,” said Kurt Bauman, the chief of Census Bureau’s Education and Social Stratification Branch, in a statement.
NSF Grant Fuels Efforts to Boost Latinos in STEM Fields
As part of an effort to boost the number of Latinos graduating with degrees in the STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — four universities will use a new federal grant to bring together experts closest to the issue to examine the challenges and brainstorm successful strategies.
The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of California at Irvine, the University of Arizona, the University of Houston and Nova Southeastern University in Florida each $100,000 to host the conferences.
Top 10 Higher Ed Stories You Should Be Covering, 2017 Edition
Undergraduate enrollment is slated to increase by 14 percent between 2015 and 2026, but some liberal arts colleges may not see a boost in their number of students or have enough faculty to support the few who enroll.
Grinnell College in Iowa saw applications drop by more than 20 percent this year, Warren Wilson College in North Carolina is laying off faculty and Wisconsin’s Northland College is slashing faculty salaries, said Scott Jaschik, editor and co-founder of Inside Higher Ed.
Does Going to a Hispanic-Serving Institution Affect How Much Graduates Earn?
As the number of Hispanic students enrolled in college has increased so has the discussion of the roles of the institutions that are educating them.
A large portion of Hispanic students are concentrated in a small number of colleges, which are called Hispanic-serving institutions or HSIs, in a few key states. By federal definition, these are two- and four-year colleges and universities that are accredited, grant degrees, and whose full-time-equivalent undergraduate enrollment is at least 25 percent Hispanic.
Go West, Young Students: California’s Free Community College Boom
EWA Radio: Episode 114
Ashley Smith of Inside Higher Ed discusses why the Golden State is leading the nation in free community college initiatives. Currently, a quarter of all such programs nationally are located at California institutions. The growth is a mix of grassroots efforts by individual campuses, cities, and community organizations. At the same time, California’s Democratic lawmakers are pushing for a statewide effort to add even more free seats at two-year colleges.
Who Benefits from New York’s Free College Plan?
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to make tuition free year at New York’s public colleges and universities for students from families earning less than $125,000 is being touted as a shot across the progressive bow. As the new Congress and White House tout a conservative agenda, the governor is offering a playbook that states could use to capitalize on the liberal currents that crisscrossed the Democratic presidential primaries.
The Chronicle of Higher Education Turns 50
EWA Radio: Episode 101
Liz McMillen, the editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education, looks back at a half-century of milestone stories, memorable headlines, and key moments on the national higher education beat, many of which continue to echo today. Among them: equity and diversity, classroom technology, and free speech on campus. She discusses the Chronicle’s commitment to narrative journalism, lessons to be learned by looking back, and what’s ahead for the nation’s colleges and universities.
Why A Trump Presidency Has Higher Ed on Edge
EWA Radio: Episode 98
Benjamin Wermund of Politico discusses the uncertainties ahead for the nation’s colleges and universities following the presidential election. While Donald Trump has offered few specifics on education policy, his surrogates suggest he will reverse course on many initiatives put in place under President Obama. That could have a significant impact on areas like Title IX enforcement, federal funding for research, and more. Higher education leaders are also facing a surge in reports of hate crimes and harassment on campuses that were already struggling with issues of free speech and diversity.
Doing More With Higher Ed Data: From Policy to Newsrooms
Philadelphia • February 2–3, 2017
With colleges and universities under increased pressure to ensure that more students earn degrees without amassing mountains of debt, journalists are at the forefront in examining how these institutions measure up. But there’s one major obstacle that both colleges and reporters share when it comes to making sense of how well these schools are meeting their goals: insufficient data.
Why Appalachian Colleges Want More Latino Students
EWA Radio: Episode 95
Timothy Pratt of The Hechinger Report discusses why liberal arts colleges in Appalachia are making Latino student recruiting a top priority. A 2016 EWA Reporting Fellow, Pratt recently completed an in-depth reporting project on the implications of this shift for private colleges — many of which are struggling to keep enrollment counts up.
Programs Providing ‘Excelencia’ in Latino Education
The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Excelencia in Education has released its annual list of college programs and community groups that are effectively supporting the educational advancement of Latino students in higher education, or “Examples of ¡Excelencia!“
Here’s a look at this year’s honorees.
Pathway to the Baccalaureate Program, Northern Virginia Community College
Finding Stories in College Scorecard Data
Webinar recap.
The best data are often the hardest to parse. Sure, a neat snapshot of three or four variables is easy on the eyes, but to really dig deep and find important and surprising trends, you’ll probably have to wade through dozens of variables.
Or in the College Scorecard’s case, 2,000 variables.
College Completion Failures Must Be Tackled in Tandem With Costs, Report Says
Two numbers haunt the college landscape: $1.3 trillion and 40 percent.
The first is the ever-increasing debt Americans are shouldering to pay off the cost of a degree. But a growing chorus of experts believes that extraordinary sum obscures another crisis: For many, those debts wouldn’t be as devastating had they earned a degree. But only 40 percent of Americans complete a bachelor’s degree in four years.
The upshot is that millions of Americans earning meager wages are on the hook for thousands of dollars with almost nothing to show for it.
Understanding the Student Loan-Debt Picture
“There’s a lot of talk about the student debt crisis and I’m going to tell you that I don’t think there really is a student debt crisis,” said Debbie Cochrane, vice president at The Institute for College Access and Success. “What there are are multiple student debt crises.”
Know the Score: Finding Stories in College Scorecard Data
How many first-generation students does a college have? How much does the school charge students from families earning $30,000 versus more than $75,000? And how many students are repaying their student loan debt three years after college?
Year-Long Campaign to Highlight ROI of Minority-Serving Institutions
With 52 data points over 52 weeks, the University of Pennsylvania Center for Minority-Serving Institutions hopes to raise public awareness about these types of colleges and the return on investment they can offer.
Same As It Ever Was: The Pitfalls of Remedial Education
EWA Radio: Episode 88
Millions of high school graduates show up for the first day of college academically unprepared for the rigors of higher ed. And that’s where remedial (or “developmental”) education comes into play. Students don’t get academic credit for these classes even though they still cost them in time and money. And there’s another problem: being placed in even one remedial class as a freshman — particularly at a community college — can significantly reduce a student’s odds of ever completing a degree.
Back-to-School: You Need Stories, We’ve Got Ideas
The boys (and girls) are back in town. For class, that is.
See how forced that lede was? Back-to-school reporting can take on a similar tinge of predictability, with journalists wondering how an occasion as locked in as the changing of the seasons can be written about with the freshness of spring.
Recently some of the beat’s heavy hitters dished with EWA’s Emily Richmond about ways newsrooms can take advantage of the first week of school to tell important stories and cover overlooked issues.
Calif. Community College System Gets First Latino Boss
The California Community Colleges Board of Governors voted unanimously this week to appoint Eloy Ortiz Oakley as the system’s next chancellor. This decision marks the first time a Latino has been at the helm of the 113-college system, where Hispanic students make up 42 percent of the student population and represented nearly half of all new students last fall.
Back-to-School: You Need Stories, We’ve Got Ideas
For education reporters, coming up with fresh ideas for back-to-school stories is an annual ritual. And if you’re balancing the K-12 and higher education beats, it can be an even bigger challenge.
Taking More Courses May Help Solve the College Debt Crisis
In 2015, the Senate committee that oversees education held a hearing on ways colleges could help students amass less debt. With postsecondary debt hovering at around $1.3 trillion, any little bit can help.
How Well Are Colleges and Universities Preparing Students to Thrive?
The Education Trust
Our College Results Online web tool has been updated with new data and a few new, important variables that can help students and families weigh the investment in a college degree against the return expected down the road. The new variables are:
Recent Tragedies Hit Home for EWA
It feels like we were just in Orlando at Valencia College, sharing a campus with seven students who lost their lives early Sunday morning in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
Are Hispanic-Serving Institutions Actually ‘Serving’ Their Students?
Hispanic-serving institutions should do more than just enroll large numbers of Latino students. As their title implies, they’re also supposed to serve them, according to experts on a panel Excelencia in Education hosted Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Higher Ed: Hunger on Campus
The stereotypes of the financially struggling college students are well-known. They live on ramen, share an apartment or house with several roommates, and work part-time for money to buy beer. They get summer jobs to cover college tuition and expenses. And they come from middle- and upper-class families, so if they do struggle sometimes to pay the bills, that scarcity is hip and cool.
Report: Latino Graduation Rates Highest at Selective Institutions
The more selective the institution, the higher the graduation rate for Latino students, a new study by Excelencia in Education shows.
At selective colleges and universities — those that admit less than half of applicants — 68 percent of Latino students graduate and are more likely to do so on time. At other four-year institutions and two-year colleges, the Latino graduation rates are 47 and 17 percent, respectively.
Psychology, Mentoring and Dollars: Innovations in Graduating More Students from College
College students enter their institutions excited about learning and eager to succeed. Yet many don’t.
Hurdles like the cost of attendance certainly exist, but researchers are also now starting to examine the effects psychological barriers such as social group dynamics, self-confidence and feelings of isolation have on college students’ success.
Progressives in Massachusetts Shortchange Poor Kids, Governor Says
Massachusetts has long been the poster child for education.
For years now it’s ranked at the top in the country for math and reading achievement, boasted impressive graduation rates and made a significant financial investments over the last few decades to get there.
It’s no slouch when it comes to higher education either. Massachusetts harbors some of the best colleges and universities in the world, and it’s joining a growing number of states looking to make college more affordable.
Obama Official: To Lower Cost of College, States Must Spend More
“The most expensive degree is the one you don’t get.” That’s Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell quoting former U.S. Ed Secretary Arne Duncan at the Education Writers Association’s National Seminar on Monday. Mitchell’s talk focused on how to prevent such a costly slip.
Report: Last Affordable Options for College Students Are Fast Disappearing
The converging trends of falling state investment, rising tuition and stagnant incomes have finally pushed higher education out of the grasp of low- and middle-income Americans, even at community colleges, a new report contends.
Should Kid Reporters Cover Trump?
EWA Radio: Episode 66
Student reporters — some as young as 10 years old — are reporting on the race to the White House. But amid incidents of violence at recent rallies for Republican front-runner Donald Trump, some people are wondering whether it’s time to take the junior journalists off the campaign trail.
Why President Obama Should Teach
EWA Radio: Episode 65
When President Obama leaves office in January, there will be no shortage of big-name corporations and Ivy League universities clamoring for his skills. But in a recent essay for The New Yorker Magazine, contributor Cinque Henderson — a former writer for Aaron Sorkin’s “The Newsroom” — suggests President Obama consider teaching at a historically black college or university (HBCU), community college, or even an urban high school.
New Ways to Find Out Who Is Ready for College
Do tests or high school grades better determine whether a student is ready for college-level math and reading? For public universities and community colleges, increasingly the answer is both – or no tests at all, reporters learned during a seminar hosted by the Education Writers Association in Los Angeles last month.
Playing Defense: Challenges Ahead for Higher Ed
EWA Radio: Episode 62
It’s a challenging time for colleges and universities: There’s little patience for school leaders seen as lagging in their response to campus controversies; social media is reshaping, and amplifying, student activism; and there is a growing push for accountability, including measuring faculty quality.
Most Latino College Students Attend Small Concentration of Schools
More Latinos are going to college, but they’re doing it at a small number of schools, according to a new analysis from Excelencia in Education released this week.
Tracking Transfer: New Measures of Institutional and State Effectiveness in Helping Community College Students Attain Bachelor’s Degrees
Community College Research Center
This report is designed to help improve transfer student outcomes by helping institutional leaders and policymakers better understand current outcomes and providing them with metrics for benchmarking their performance.
State of the Union: Here’s Your Education Buzzword Bingo Card
By popular demand, we’ll be playing EWA Buzzword Bingo tonight on Twitter during President Obama’s State of the Union address. You can join in with the online versionof the game (click the box when you hear the buzzword). The hashtag is #EWABingo.
Higher Ed 2016
September 16–17 • Tempe, Arizona
What new techniques and practices should higher education embrace to ensure that more students graduate? Join the Education Writers Association September 16–17 at Arizona State University to explore cutting-edge innovations that aim to address financial, academic, and social barriers. More on the seminar theme.
This annual seminar is one of the largest gatherings of journalists covering postsecondary education. Network with others covering this beat and step up your coverage for the upcoming academic year.
Tempe, Arizona
Many Hispanic Community College Students Go Hungry, Report Shows
Twenty-three percent of Hispanic or Latino community college students have very little security when it comes to their next meal, according to a study released this week by the Association of Community College Trustees measuring hunger and homelessness at 10 community colleges across the nation.
Hungry to Learn: Addressing Food & Housing Insecurity Among Undergraduates
The Association of Community College Trustees
According to a new survey of more than 4,000 undergraduates at 10 community colleges across the nation, half of all community college students are struggling with food and/or housing insecurity. Fully 20 percent are hungry and 13 percent are homeless. These numbers are startling and indicate the need for a multi-pronged, comprehensive set of institutional, state, and local policies to alleviate the barriers presented by poverty, so as to improve educational success.
Philosophers vs. Welders: Can’t We Have Both?
There was plenty of levity on Twitter in the wake of Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio’s declaration that “we need more welders, less philosophers.”(This English major would have preferred he said “fewer” philosophers, by the way.)
Saving on College by Doing Some of It in High School
Last week the White House announced a new higher education experiment that will direct federal grants to some high school students who want to enroll in college classes.
The plan is to start small, with the administration offering $20 million to help defray the college costs of up to 10,000 low-income high school students for the 2016-2017 academic year. The money will come from the overall Pell Grant pot, which is currently funded at more than $30 billion annually and used by 8 million students.
Seven Challenges First-Generation College Students Face & How to Write About Them
While many first-generation students are excited and ambitious when they step on campus — eager to beat the odds and become the first in their families to earn a college degree — others struggle with guilt, fear and loneliness, sometimes even struggling to remember why they decided to attend college in the first place. And they grapple with these feelings while they also have to figure out how to apply for financial aid, register for classes, and manage the other necessities of undergraduate life knowing they can’t turn to their families for guidance based on experience.
Hispanic-Serving Institutions and Their Roles in Higher Ed
In recent years, the United States has seen overall enrollment declines in the numbers of students seeking postsecondary degrees, but in a panel about Latinos in higher education at the Education Writers Association’s second annual Spanish-Language Media Convening, the executive director of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities reminded journalists of one area of growth: The number of Hispanic-serving institutions is on the rise and accelerating.
How Community Colleges Are Helping Transfer Students
Students who transfer between colleges and universities on their path to achieve a college degree often encounter obstacles – barriers, like lost credits, that could keep them from finishing their degree altogether. At EWA’s recent seminar in Orlando focused on higher education, reporters got a lesson in the data on transfer students and heard from experts who are making the process of transferring and going on to earn degrees easier for students at their community colleges.
Florida Colleges Face Life Without Remediation
Each year, hundreds of thousands of new college students arrive on campus unable to handle freshman level work and wind up in remedial classes. That’s a major frustration not only to the students but also to lawmakers who believe public dollars are being used twice for the same instruction – once at the K-12 level, then again in postsecondary financial aid.
Bill My Boss: Why Employer-Paid Tuition Is on the Rise
With a tepid economic recovery and wage growth that fails to meet expectations, some workers may be wondering whether there’s an antidote to the fiscal malaise.
Lessons From Roseburg: Covering Community Colleges and Campus Violence
With a single tweet, Motoko Rich of The New Times managed to encapsulate one of the most striking aspects of last week’s campus shooting:
Ten Higher Ed Story Ideas for 2015-2016 (Plus One Bonus)
In a word, perspective.
Getting Beyond Ratings and Rankings to Find What Works for Minority-Serving Institutions
Paul Quinn College President Michael Sorrell knows his campus won’t be rated highly by the U.S. Department of Education’s new College Scorecard. In fact, Paul Quinn has “the worst numbers you can possibly imagine at the federal level,” Sorrell told reporters at EWA’s recent higher education conference Sept. 18-19 in Orlando.
The New Effort to Link College to Careers
As tuitions swell and student loan debt climbs further, one aspect of higher education that has been overlooked is the recipe required to transform a college education into a set of skills that prepares students for the workspace.
As it turns out, neither colleges nor employers have a firm grasp on what flavor that special sauce should have, reporters learned at “The Way to Work: Covering the Path from College to Careers” – the Education Writers Association’s seminar on higher education held in Orlando Sep. 18-19.
Escaping the Ordinary: The Best Back-to-School Story Ideas
Back-to-School Webinar
For education reporters, coming up with fresh angles for back-to-school stories is an annual challenge. Two veteran education journalists—Steve Drummond (NPR) and Beth Hawkins (MinnPost)—share smart tips for digging deep, and keeping ahead of the curve on the latest trends. We discuss new ways of approaching the first day of school, ideas for unique profiles, strategies for data projects and how to make the most of your publication’s multimedia resources.
Speakers
The Higher Ed Beat: Covering Hispanic Students
EWA Radio: Episode 30
With Hispanic students accounting for the largest growth in college enrollment, how are higher education institutions reshaping programs and services to meet their needs? What are the most popular colleges for Hispanic students, and what’s driving their choices?
Money Magazine’s College Rankings Examine How Much ‘Value’ Students Get
The folks at Money magazine are largely doing the work the White House sought to do but hasn’t: rate colleges and universities by the extra boost they give students in landing financially rewarding careers.
Released this week, Money’s rating system ranks more than 700 schools according to an in-house rubric for measuring how much value a college offers students given its price of attendance.
Rethinking Career & Technical Education in a Global Context
2015 EWA National Seminar
Amid worries of a “skills gap” for U.S. youths and young adults, some experts call for rethinking and ramping up career and technical education. Panelists explore the skills and achievement of American young people in an international context, and highlight ways to improve CTE with an eye toward promising practices in other countries.
After Pushback, White House Yields on College Ratings
EWA Radio: Episode 28
After nearly two years of public debate, and vociferous pushback from the higher education community, the White House announced it is pulling back on plans to rate the nation’s colleges based on a complex matrix of performance measures and student outcomes. Paul Fain, news editor for Inside Higher Ed has been following this story closely since the beginning, and he helped break the news that the Obama administration was scrapping the most controversial parts of its original proposal.
He spoke with EWA public editor Emily Richmond about who’s surprised by the decision (hint: not a lot of people), and the role played by aggressive lobbying against the rating plan by much of the higher education community. Fain and Richmond also discussed college ratings and consumer tools already available, and how to answer parents and students who ask for advice on choosing a school.
Latino Dropout Rate Going Down, College Enrollment Going Up
Fewer Latinos are dropping out of high school, and more are heading for college.
With graduation season well underway, these are a few educational highlights mentioned in a Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends article Tuesday. The Pew article used data from 2000 and 2013 to examine national trends.
Calculating the Costs of Remedial Placement Testing
Community College Research Center
Of the more than one million new students who enter community colleges each fall, nearly 70 percent are assigned to remedial coursework. The cost of providing this coursework is high, yet evidence about the effectiveness of remediation is not compelling. In addition, many students are misclassified in the remedial assessment process.
Can the Community College ‘Promise’ Be Fulfilled?
Nine million.
That’s how many students the White House believes will be able to attend a community college under the president’s proposed America’s College Promise program. During the session at EWA’s National Seminar held last month in Chicago, U.S. Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell said nine million students see college as unaffordable.
Hispanics More Optimistic Than Most About Higher Ed Access, Affordability
When asked in a recent poll whether education beyond high school is available and affordable to those who need it, Hispanic respondents were optimistic.
The results of a recent Gallup-Lumina Foundation poll reveal that while overall, Americans feel higher education is not affordable, the majority of Hispanics feel it is. And on the issue of access, Hispanics were also more confident than white and black survey-takers.
HSIs Celebrate Growth, 20 Years of Federal Funds
It’s been a little over 20 years since the federal government first recognized the “Hispanic-serving institution” distinction, prompting Excelencia in Education and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities to release an analysis of the latest academic year and highlights from the past two decades Wednesday.
New ‘Factbook’ Gives Snapshot of Latinos in Education
In early education, elementary, high school and undergraduate college programs, Latinos represent the second largest group of students, according to a new report by Excelencia in Education.
The report, released last week, is comprised of more than 20 fact sheets profiling the state of Latinos in education across the pipeline.
EWA Radio: What’s Next For No Child Left Behind?
EWA Radio recently spoke with several national reporters about what the president’s State of the Union address said (and also, what it didn’t say) about his plans for public schools. They also provided some thoughtful insights about what’s looming on the federal education policy landscape.
The Condition of Latinos in Education: 2015 Factbook
Excelencia in Education
Excelencia in Education
Excelencia in Education is committed to using data to inform public policy and institutional practice to achieve our mission of accelerating student success for Latinos in higher education. We know college success does not begin at the college gates. Every educational experience from early childhood to high school and into the workforce influences the potential for college success.
State of the Union: Higher Ed Steals the Spotlight
EWA Radio, Episode 18, Part 1
On Tuesday night, President Obama renewed his commitment to making community college free to most students, despite a distinct lack of enthusiasm from the Republican-controlled Congress.
The Education Words President Obama Didn’t Say
For the policy wonks and advocates hoping for more than a passing mention of K-12 education in President Obama’s State of the Union, it was a long 59 minutes.
College Tech Program Trains Latinos for Silicon Valley
A community college computer-science class made up mostly of Latinos has set its sights on bringing more diversity to the technology industry.
State of the Union: Play EWA Buzzword Bingo
By popular demand, we’ll be playing EWA Buzzword Bingo tonight on Twitter during President Obama’s State of the Union address. Look for the hashtag #EWABingo.
What We Know About Transfer
Davis Jenkins and John Fink
This research overview reviews recent findings on transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions, including student transfer patterns, student outcomes, barriers to transfer, the economic benefits of transfer, and the potential benefits of vertical transfer for four-year colleges and universities. Overall, the returns to transfer are strong, and transfer offers a vital route to a bachelor’s degree for many underserved students.
Latino Education Experts Ponder Impact of Free Community College Proposal
Trends show that students of color are relying more heavily on community colleges as an “access point to low-cost, postsecondary education,” according to a recent report by the Center for American Progress.
The 2015 Education Beat: Common Core, Testing, School Choice
There’s a busy year ahead on the schools beat – I talked to reporters, policy analysts and educators to put together a cheat sheet to a few of the stories you can expect to be on the front burner in the coming months:
Revamping No Child Left Behind
President Obama: Make Community College Free to (Most) Students
President Obama will be in Tennessee today, where he’s expected to reveal more details of a proposal to make the first two years of community college free to qualified students. More details will follow in the State of the Union address later this month.
California Law Schools Aim to Attract Hispanics, Other Minorities
Six law schools in California are boosting their efforts to increase diversity in the legal profession, providing financial-aid counseling, admission-test prep and application-fee waivers, among other services, to students at 24 community colleges.
(Community) College Readiness
2014 Higher Ed Seminar
While high schools across the nation have increasingly turned their attention toward making their graduates “college and career ready,” many community colleges are pondering the best way to educate those adults who enroll underprepared. One approach that appears to be gaining momentum—in Connecticut, Florida and Texas, for example— is to eliminate developmental or remedial education offerings altogether, arguing that these costly courses deter students from earning degrees.
Nevada High School Students Meet a ‘Latino Cohort’ to Follow
Latino students who attend Western Nevada College are visiting schools to promote the benefits of higher education, presenting themselves as role models for students they hope to see follow in their footsteps.
Researchers: More to Hispanic-Serving Colleges than Graduation Rates
The statistics are eye-catching. Only 41 percent of Latino college students finish their college degree in six years. When compared with the national average of 50 percent who earn a degree in the same time frame, the disparity seems to be clear.
In Indianapolis, a Private College Aims to Recruit Latino Students
A $50-million incentive may help Marian University in Indianapolis boost its Latino student population.
At least, that’s what school officials are hoping.
How Have Community College Funding Cuts Affected Latinos?
The above pie chart serves as a colorful depiction of the types of postsecondary schools serving Latino student populations of 25 percent or more. As you can see, there’s a lot of red, indicating most Hispanic-serving institutions are two-year colleges.
Report: Community Colleges Enroll More Students, Receive Less Funding than Four-Year Schools
State support for community colleges is shrinking even as enrollment at the institutions is steadily climbing, according to a new report.
Nearly half of the nation’s students are attending these low-cost options for a college degree, and in fact, community college enrollment has expanded by a fifth since 2007.
Experts: Community College Results Weighed Down by Remediation
From politicians to policymakers, the argument goes that sustaining America’s competitive edge will rely largely on more students graduating college.
But while the nation has notched successes in sending more students to postsecondary institutions, the college dropout rate remains stubbornly high. One major reason for the attrition: Millions of high school graduates are academically unprepared for the rigors of higher ed.
Deciphering Student-Loan Default Rates
The federal government today released a snapshot of how well borrowers with federal student loans are repaying their debts, indicating that fewer Americans are defaulting on their college loans compared to past years, but that the figures still exceed pre-recession levels.
The 10 Higher Education Stories You Should Be Covering This Year
Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed talks to reporters at EWA’s 2014 Higher Education Seminar.
Recorded Sept. 6, 2014, at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
At What Cost? How Community Colleges that Do Not Offer Federal Loans Put Students at Risk
The Institute for College Access & Success
In 2013-14, nearly one million community college students across the nation were denied access to federal student loans, the safest and most affordable way to borrow for college. Our report includes national and state-by-state analyses of loan access by race/ethnicity and urbanicity, and takes an in-depth look at North Carolina, California, and Georgia.
At What Cost? How Community Colleges that Do Not Offer Federal Loans Put Students at Risk
The Institute for College Access & Success
In 2013-14, nearly one million community college students across the nation were denied access to federal student loans, the safest and most affordable way to borrow for college. Our report includes national and state-by-state analyses of loan access by race/ethnicity and urbanicity, and takes an in-depth look at North Carolina, California, and Georgia.
At What Cost?
How Community Colleges that Do Not Offer Federal Loans Put Students at Risk
With Americans increasingly having to borrow to pay for college, a new report from The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) finds that nearly one million community college students cannot get federal student loans because their school chooses not to offer them. Without access to federal student loans, students may not be able to stay enrolled without turning to more costly and risky forms of borrowing such as credit cards or private loans, or reducing their chances of graduating by working longer hours or cutting back on classes.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Covering the College Student Experience
2014 Higher Ed Seminar
For many college students — whether fresh out of high school or adults returning to school — their most serious obstacles to a degree won’t be homework or tests, but rather the challenges of navigating student life. Colleges are now being forced to face the longstanding problems that have often led to students’ flailing and failing on their own.
Top 10 Higher Education Stories You Should Be Covering
For higher education reporters, Inside Higher Ed editor Scott Jaschik’s annual top-10 list of story ideas is a highlight of EWA’s National Seminar. This year at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Jaschik kicked off his roundup with an issue that has affected many institutions around the country: sexual assault. The key to covering this story, he said, is not to imply that this is a new problem. Increased attention from the White House has challenged the ways that many colleges have addressed these incidents.
Tennessee’s Haslam Aims for Mantle of Education Governor
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam laughingly admitted during a speech at the Education Writers Association’s National Seminar this week that his state hasn’t always been known as a “hotbed of education reform”—or frankly, a place known for its academic achievement.
Moreover, he wasn’t the state CEO who ushered in a series of dramatic education policy changes that has put the state on the national school reform map. Still, he said at the May 19 appearance in Nashville, he’s been the guy “standing in the doorway making sure we don’t retreat.”
Community Colleges Increasingly Adding Bachelor’s Degrees
An increasing number of community colleges around the country have started offering four-year bachelor’s degrees in fields for which there is high job demand. Critics and supporters of the trend say alternately that it is helping fill an important social need most universities aren’t, or that it’s an ego-driven, money-wasting cry for prestige and respect from institutions at the low end of the higher-education hierarchy.
Making the Jump to a Four-Year Degree Difficult for Community College Students
Several reports dropped this week about the difficulties community college students face transferring into a four-year college.
Nearly half of all postsecondary students are enrolled at a community college, and a poll from 2012 indicates 80 percent of those students aim to complete a degree at a four-year college or university. But while that goal is shared by many students, few actually successfully jump from a two-year to a four-year program.
The Community College Route to the Bachelor’s Degree
It is well established that students who begin postsecondary education at a community college are less likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than otherwise similar undergraduates who begin at a 4-year school, but there is less consensus over the mechanisms generating this disparity. We explore these using national longitudinal transcript data and propensity-score methods. …
States Balk as GED Gets More Expensive
Life for the nearly 40 million Americans without a high school diploma could be about to get harder as testing companies who create high school equivalency exams are rolling out tougher – and in some cases — more expensive
The 10 Higher Ed Stories You Should Be Covering This Year
From the “gainful employment” debate to what’s next for MOOCs, Inside Higher Ed Editor Scott Jaschik offers his ideas on topics in postsecondary education that journalists should be tracking.
The 10 Higher Education Stories You Should Be Covering This Year
From the “gainful employment” debate to what’s next for MOOCs, Inside Higher Ed Editor Scott Jaschik offers his ideas on topics in postsecondary education that journalists should be tracking.
Recorded Friday, Sept. 27 at EWA’s 2013 Higher Ed Seminar, Guess Who’s Coming to Campus: What Demographic Changes Mean for Colleges and Reporters.
As Poverty Spreads, So Do the Challenges for Schools
A new report highlighting the growing rate of poverty among suburban residents warns that traditional policies aimed at combating indigence aren’t designed to address the problem adequately.
Can Community Colleges Get Better?
More than ever, community colleges are being seen as key to getting millions of Americans the education they need to thrive. Yet while many students enter community colleges for job training that does not culminate in a degree, many more intend to get a degree but fall short. What can change?
Community College Outcomes: Advance Look at New Digital Resource for Tracking Student Progress
38 minutes
Community colleges are widely considered a critical link in the nation’s continued economic recovery. As a result, the open-access entry point to higher education is facing both renewed scrutiny and higher expectations, with policymakers demanding actual evidence of effectiveness.
Campus Coverage Project: College Journos Gather at Arizona State
I’m in Phoenix for the next few days at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. EWA is helping out with IRE’s (Investigative Reporters and Editors) third annual Campus Coverage Project conference. Roughly 75 of the nation’s top college journalists were selected to spend four days learning the latest techniques and tips for writing investigative stories.
A New Year: What’s Ahead For Education
Here were are in January, and I’m still trying to figure out what happened to October. The fall sped by as I adjusted to a new city and a new job. This winter isn’t going much slower.
For many people, myself included, 2011 was a year of intense highs and lows. In the education world, there is much unfinished business that carried over from the old year to the new. We still don’t know what’s going to replace No Child Left Behind. School districts nationwide are dealing with massive budget shortfalls that could result in layoffs and cuts to programs and services.
Today’s Aspen Prize Award: Top Community Colleges to Share $1 Million
Today, the Aspen Institute will award the first-ever Aspen Prize for community college excellence, choosing from a list of 10 finalists (the original candidate pool was over 1,200).
The winning campus and four runners-up will share the $1 million prize, which recognizes both exceptional educational programs and student success.
League for Innovation in Community Colleges
The League for Innovation in Community Colleges is “specifically committed to improving community colleges through innovation, experimentation, and institutional transformation.” Founded in 1968, the League played a key role in helping to increase the number of community colleges nationally during the 1970s and currently is working to help community colleges improve their graduation rates.
The Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute awarded its first Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence in 2011. Valencia College in Florida won the $600,000 award because of its comparatively high graduation rate and success helping students find jobs. The next prize is schedules to be awarded in 2013.
Community College Research Center
The Community College Research Center is a key resource for information and data about community colleges. The CCRC is based at the Teachers College, Columbia University. Their research regarding the impact of remedial and developmental courses at community colleges has been particularly notable.
Association of Community College Trustees
The Association of Community College Trustees is “a non-profit educational organization of governing boards, representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern over 1,200 communities, technical, and junior colleges in the United States.” One of the key services the ACCT offers is an executive search program that helps trustees find leaders for their institutions.
American Association of Community Colleges
The American Association of Community Colleges is the leading organization for the nation’s nearly 1,200 two-year colleges. The AACC provides guidance and advocates and lobbies on behalf of community colleges. Most recently, the AACC has worked to revise the reporting standards for graduation rate data and has initiated a 21st Century commission to address the changing roles of community colleges.
Achieving the Dream
Achieving the Dream is a nonprofit initiative “dedicated to helping more community college students, particularly low-income students and students of color, stay in school and earn a college certificate or degree.” Nearly 100 community colleges nationwide are participating in the project.
Online Courses Are Second Choice for Community College Students in Some Subject Areas
The wholesale replacement of community college curriculums with online courses might not be the best idea, according to new research from the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College.
California Community Colleges Release Completion Scorecards
California’s community college system on April 9 unveiled Web-based “scorecards” on student performance at its 112 colleges. The new data tool is user-friendly and often sobering, with graduation, retention and transfer rates for each of the colleges and for the overall system, which enrolls 2.4 million students.
System Failure: The Collapse of Public Education
From our high schools to CUNY, New York City’s numbers are in—and they are terrifying.
The Great Aid Gap
As certificates grow in number and importance, many educators are calling attention to what they see as an overlooked problem in the nation’s efforts to upgrade workers’ skills and deal with soaring higher-education costs: Federal financial aid goes overwhelmingly to students in traditional degree programs, while little goes to the many students in noncredit certificate programs who may need it more.
California Bill Seeks Campus Credit for Online Study
Legislation will be introduced in the California Senate that could reshape higher education by requiring the state’s public colleges and universities to give credit for faculty-approved online courses taken by students unable to register for oversubscribed classes on campus.
If it passes, as seems likely, it would be the first time that state legislators have instructed public universities to grant credit for courses that were not their own — including those taught by a private vendor, not by a college or university.
Community-College Grads Out-Earn Bachelor’s Degree Holders
Berevan Omer graduated on a Friday in February with an associate’s degree from Nashville State Community College and started work the following Monday in his new job as a computer-networking engineer at a local television station, making about $50,000 a year.
Politicians, Business Leaders Ask High Schoolers to Consider Community College
Experts say high schools, community colleges, and businesses need to work together to fill a gap of an estimated 600,000 jobs, largely in manufacturing, and cities such as Chicago are spearheading initiatives to do just that.
Completion Matters: The High Cost of Community Colleges
This report examines the potential financial costs to regions where the community college graduation rates are low. According to the report, “Cutting the dropout rate by half would generate substantial gains: the 160,000 “new” graduates would earn $30 billion more in lifetime income—and create an additional $5.3 billion in total taxpayer revenue.”
Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future
This report from the AACC’s 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges essentially offers a mission statement for two-year institutions as the nation’s economy still seeks to recover from the 2008 financial crisis. The report calls for improved measures and performance on student graduation rates, along with better ties to high schools, the workforce, and four-year colleges.
Predicting Success in College: The Importance of Placement Tests and High School Transcripts
This study delves into the questions of how best to determine whether students who enroll in community colleges should be placed in college-level or remedial courses, and the effect remedial placement has on graduation rates. The authors find that high school grade point average is more useful when it comes to predicting student success.
Committee on Measures of Student Success
This final report from a committee gathered to re-evaluate how the U.S. Education Department collects data regarding student graduation rates for postsecondary institutions recommends ways the department could better account for transfer students other students overlooked by the “first-year, full-time enrollment” standard the department had used. Most advocates believe such changes in practice—In April 2012, the Education Department announced plans to enact the recommendations—would benefit community colleges, whose students often transfer.