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I live in a town with an unusually good community college. The new president just got fired because she enacted a graduation-centric agenda which antagonized bo

I live in a town with an unusually good community college. The new president just got fired because she enacted a graduation-centric agenda which antagonized both the faculty and the student body. Part-timers enjoying themselves outnumber serious full-timers in this community, and a community college should, imo, embody its community's priorities. Being able to take great courses cheaply, on your own schedule, is fantastic. I think programs like ASAP have a lot of merit, but the OP assumes that graduation's success and anything else is failure. I think they're using simple metrics to look at a complex space.

Moto7451 13y ago
Can't agree more. One great thing about CCs is the low per unit cost means you can take courses to learn specific skills and get out or easily take something way outside your comfort zone. Half the people in the first couple 100 series programming courses at my community college were just curious about it. I also know a lot of people who went to Community College and dropped out simply because they decided they didn't want or need the degree to do what they wanted to do. Most of them got into the trades. I don't think that should be considered a failure of the CC system. Better to figure yourself put at this level for $2,000 than at a State school for $20,000.
dhimes 13y ago
That's always been a problem for the CC- especially in a metropolitan area. For most of the successful students graduation is not the final outcome. There are two major categories of student for which this is true: (1) The student has a degree in, say, accounting, but wants to go into, for example, physical therapy or medicine. She needs to take some science classes, but has most of her college requirements fulfilled. She can do this at the cc part time. (2 The student intends to pursue a four year degree. He doesn't need to graduate from the cc to do so; he just needs to fulfill (what some call) a transfer block. As a case-in-point, the cc at which I used to teach had a physical education requirement for graduation. A long-ago president instituted this rule, and nobody changed it. Most transferring students don't want to spend the time and money for this requirement just so that they can say they graduated. They fill their transfer block requirements and go.
alistairSH 13y ago
I agree with the principle. However, you are ignoring the financial implications. CCs need tuition payments to survive. Very few, if any, have large endowments. Student's who aren't on track to graduate can't always obtain financial aid or subsidized/deferred-payment loans. And even though CCs tend to be more affordable than 4-year schools, they still aren't inexpensive to the majority of the population. So, graduation rates become a major part of ensuring financial viability.

Moto7451 13y ago

Can't agree more. One great thing about CCs is the low per unit cost means you can take courses to learn specific skills and get out or easily take something way outside your comfort zone. Half the people in the first couple 100 series programming courses at my community college were just curious about it. I also know a lot of people who went to Community College and dropped out simply because they decided they didn't want or need the degree to do what they wanted to do. Most of them got into the trades. I don't think that should be considered a failure of the CC system. Better to figure yourself put at this level for $2,000 than at a State school for $20,000.

dhimes 13y ago

That's always been a problem for the CC- especially in a metropolitan area. For most of the successful students graduation is not the final outcome. There are two major categories of student for which this is true: (1) The student has a degree in, say, accounting, but wants to go into, for example, physical therapy or medicine. She needs to take some science classes, but has most of her college requirements fulfilled. She can do this at the cc part time. (2 The student intends to pursue a four year degree. He doesn't need to graduate from the cc to do so; he just needs to fulfill (what some call) a transfer block. As a case-in-point, the cc at which I used to teach had a physical education requirement for graduation. A long-ago president instituted this rule, and nobody changed it. Most transferring students don't want to spend the time and money for this requirement just so that they can say they graduated. They fill their transfer block requirements and go.

alistairSH 13y ago

I agree with the principle. However, you are ignoring the financial implications. CCs need tuition payments to survive. Very few, if any, have large endowments. Student's who aren't on track to graduate can't always obtain financial aid or subsidized/deferred-payment loans. And even though CCs tend to be more affordable than 4-year schools, they still aren't inexpensive to the majority of the population. So, graduation rates become a major part of ensuring financial viability.