Reform needed to improve community college practices

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The realities of community college have lagged behind its promises, and reform is necessary as politicians point toward the system to address student debt and career training.

So says a report from the Manhattan Institute, “Promise Unmet: How to Fix America’s Community Colleges.”

“While more accessible to lower-income and minority students than traditional higher-education institutions, community colleges experience the lowest graduation rates and highest student-loan default rates of any higher-ed sector,” Adjunct Fellow Judah Bellin writes.

Historically, community colleges have lower graduation rates than traditional four-year colleges and universities. Students start at community colleges for basic courses, then transfer to a traditional university. Student demographics tend to be older, less wealthy, and more students have part- or full-time jobs.

Community colleges have the lowest cost of attendance, and their net cost of attendance have declined 20 percent since the 2004-2005 school year. Yet they have the highest incidents of student-loan default rates.

More students drop out than graduate. After six years, almost 40 percent of community college students have graduated at their original institution or another institution, but almost 43 percent have dropped out.

Increasing funding for community college without addressing the system’s problems, then, could make future students worse off. If a student takes on loans but doesn’t graduate, they have a financial burden without gaining skills or credentials.

Given that community colleges serve a disproportionate among of low-income, older, and non-traditional students, increased reliance on community colleges could make the poor poorer and worsen their career prospects.

To address these problems, Bellin advocates funding incentives for above-average performance, restrict loan availability for under-performing colleges, and more active advising and counseling.

“Any attempt to enroll more students in community colleges should be coupled with measures to improve outcomes,” Bellin writes.

Recent experiments in Tennessee and Texas to encourage community college attendance should take heed with an eye to quality and consequences, not just improved enrollments.