Readers of this blog will find eduoptimist.blogspot.com has some content that is complimentary to this blog. For example, a recent post on the need to include community colleges in the stimulus package is identical to my own views.
The college transition parts of this blog are prepared by Sara Goldrick-Rab who is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin and follows new research quite closely.

Labels: two year colleges

The long awaited roll out of the new Gates funding strategy ( on their website) focuses on a major theme of this blog-low college completion rates particularly at 2 year colleges. Major investments are planned with a surprising focus on internal incentives for colleges to improve college completion. This is largely uncharted territory with little known about how to reward colleges for increasing student attainment of diplomas and vocational certificates. Moreover, Gates wants to change student aid so students get more money if they finish their college programs. Part of Gates strategy is to find ways to accelerate remediation ,so students do not give up.
All of these goals are good, but I am not sure about the techniques to attain them. An R&D strategy should be part of the package. Big money for community college is a new priority for Gates.

Labels: College Completion, two year colleges

Lumina Foundation has published new statistics showing faster growth in community colleges than other postsecondary sectors. perhaps this is because of lower costs. But the most interesting stat was that community colleges enroll 60% of all Hispanic students and 50% of all black students, but only 43% of all white students. Moreover, female students grew from 40% of all
students in 1970 to 58% now. The current female ratios are stunning - 57% of the hispanic students are female and 63% of black students are female. Where are the males? Still a mystery, and Lumina has other papers that explore this issue without any clear resolution.

Labels: two year colleges

Respected researcher James Rosenbaum of Northwestern Univerisity has a new book entitled : After Admission :From College Access to College Sucess published by Russell Sage Foundation. Its focus is exclusively on community colleges and private occupational colleges. The stunning news is how much better the private schools do on college completion, student guidance, and job placement. By contrast, community colleges use haphazard techniques and assume students are able to seek useful information by themselves. Public college students are uniformed about the number of credits they are earning, and the amount of time it will take to finish their program. Private colleges have better linkages to employers.


This is a serious indictment and deserves widespread discussion. In an earlier blog, I stressed how private occupational colleges have business models that require student persistence and completion. Public colleges can use a "churn model " that just keeps attendance stable or rising, but does not encourage completion. For example, California colleges are paid just for there third week enrollment in class.
Go to http://www.russellsage.org/ for this important book.

Labels: College Completion, College Success Studies, two year colleges

My last blog covered the variety of 2 year public colleges. But many for profit firms focus on less than 4 year degrees such as Devry, ITT, Phoenix, Heald, and Career Education. The business models for these firms rely on student retention and growth to increase their stock price. So they try to limit dropouts and help students complete their program. It costs about 30% of tuition they get to recruit a student, so this is another incentive for retention
Public 2 year schools are not paid for completion. In California the community colleges are paid for third week in a semester attendance. So they can use a "churn business model "that keeps them solvent if new entrants equal drop outs. There is an urgent need to rethink the institutional funding incentives in the 2 year public sector. For some ideas on how to do this read Invest in Success by Sacramento State, www.csus.edu/ihe

Labels: College Completion, College Success Studies, two year colleges

My last blog covered the variety of 2 year public colleges. But many for profit firms focus on less than 4 year degrees such as Devry, ITT, Phoenix, Heald, and Career Education. The business models for these firms rely on student retention and growth to increase their stock price. So they try to limit dropouts and help students complete their program. It costs about 30% of tuition they get to recruit a student, so this is another incentive for retention
Public 2 year schools are not paid for completion. In California the community colleges are paid for third week in a semester attendance. So they can use a "churn business model "that keeps them solvent if new entrants equal drop outs. There is an urgent need to rethink the institutional funding incentives in the 2 year public sector. For some ideas on how to do this read Invest in Success by Sacramento State, www.csus.edu/ihe

Labels: College Completion, College Success Studies, two year colleges

When people think of 2 year schools they usually refer to comprehensive community colleges that offer college transfer, career education, adult classes, and community service. But 2 year schools are varied and differ a lot by state. California, Texas, and Florida have comprehensive 2 year colleges, but in Florida there are a few 4 year degrees offered. Ohio has 2 year branches that are linked to a specific university like Miami; voc tech colleges with no transfer to 4 year ;agricultural colleges, and military schools.
The Southeast has technical colleges that are not part of community colleges and linked to specific vocations. For example, South Carolina has 16 two year technical colleges serving mostly low income students. For the first time SC has established a transfer path from the technical to its 4 year system http://www.thestate.com/ . Georgia has a vast technical college system that is run by a chancellor who is independent of all other post secondary education. The point is two year education policy is much more complex than most analysts think it is. These lowest tiers of postsecondary education deserve more attention and research.

Labels: two year colleges