Community College News

Community colleges have traditionally adopted an all-inclusive policy when it comes to the students who want to earn an associate degree or professional certificate after high school. Unfortunately, the willingness to let all students into the programs, regardless of their high school academic records, has left many community colleges across the country with dismal completion rates, compared to many of the four-year institutions that carefully screen applicants prior to admittance. Some schools have met this problem head-on, developing remedial programs that actually work to keep college student in school until graduation. Some of the states where these schools are located recently received a financial boost from Complete College America, a non-profit organization solely committed to increasing community college completion rates nationwide.

The Problem in Texas

Texas is one of the states in the country that has struggled with getting community college students all the way to graduation. According to a report in the Texas Tribune, 48 percent of community college students in the state require some form of remedial education or additional assistance to get up to speed academically so they can handle the rigors of higher education. Nearly 38 percent of those students do not measure up in their math skills when they graduate from high school – a fact that directly impacts a student’s ability to succeed in college. To help many of these students, colleges currently offer remedial math classes to bring them up to par.

The events of 9-11 made their mark on the lives of every American, as well as others around the globe. This year marks the 10-year anniversary of 9-11, and community colleges are finding unique ways to commemorate the date. While many of the events are scheduled for campuses in the state of New York, where the World Trade Center tragedy occurred, other colleges around the country are also hosting events to remember those who lost their lives, family members, first responders, and others whose lives were changed forever on that date. We’ll take you to some of the campuses that are planning special events across the nation.

Cayuga Community College to Display Piece of World Trade Center

Cayuga Community College in New York is proud to be home to one of the few remaining pieces of the World Trade Center today, according to a report at YNN. The school will display an exhibit that includes the artifact, titled the New York Remembers Tribute. The exhibit will also showcase the role played by the college during the events of that fateful day. While emergency crews headed out in mass to save those trapped in the World Trade Center rubble, Cayuga’s NASA Center took in information from satellites on 9-11 and passed that data along to the police and firefighters working at Ground Zero. During the early hours of the tragedy, these photos were the only information workers had to use to navigate the wreckage that just hours

With an unemployment rate of over 10 percent and 34 percent of the population considered “functionally illiterate,” any employment training program that is introduced to the city of Washington D.C. should be a welcome addition. That must have been Wal-Mart’s philosophy when it announced that the company would be partnering with the city to launch a three-year, $3 million pilot program to train a new workforce of 2,000 D.C. residents. There is no doubt that Wal-Mart is hoping to gain some goodwill from the city through its efforts, but there are significant benefits to the residents struggling to make ends meet in the city as well.

New Training at the Local Community College

The new program introduced by Wal-Mart would provide 2,000 D.C. residents with essential retail training to help them land jobs in the industry. In the past, many retail companies have gone outside the city limits – to Maryland and Virginia – to find qualified workers to staff their stores. With this new program, more qualified applicants would be found right in the community, assisting a population with high illiteracy and unemployment rates to improve the standard of living within the city.

This video describes one of Wal-Mart's many community initiatives.

According to an article in the Washington Times, the $3 million contribution by Wal-Mart would be split between the new Community College of the District of Columbia and the

Community colleges have traditionally served students of all ages and from all walks of life, unlike other postsecondary schools, which primarily cater to high school graduates. The recent Great Recession impacted enrollment at community colleges across the country, although until recently, the precise areas of that impact were not yet known. A new study has helped clarify some specifics of how the recession has impacted enrollment at community colleges nationwide.

About the Study

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center conducted this study primarily to determine how the recent recession impacted college enrollment and persistence patterns. The study looked at thousands of institutions nationwide to determine the number of first-time students under 21 who enrolled in a postsecondary institution for the fall term between 2006 and 2010. According to a report at Inside Higher Ed, this report is designed to be the first in a series of reports titled "Signature Reports" by this organization.

What the Study Found

The study "Understanding the Recession's Impact on U.S. College Enrollment and Persistence Patterns" found that a larger number of students chose community college after high school. However, the larger numbers in this area did not seem to detract from enrollment at private colleges since these schools did not suffer the losses that many expected throughout the recession.

Dr. Don Hossler, Executive Director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, told Fox that some of the findings from the study were not what researchers expected to find. Dr.

Community colleges have become popular for students of all ages to get the training they need to move into a rewarding and lucrative career. Despite concerns over budget cuts and diminishing completion rates, a new report by Community College Week shows that many schools nationwide are continuing to churn out large numbers of graduates. One secret to higher completion rates appears to be the inclusion of various healthcare degree programs in a school's course catalog. Although other industries are floundering in the sluggish economy, healthcare remains a strong option for those looking for a recession-proof career.

What the Numbers Show

The current report by Community College Week shows that over the past decade, the number of associate degrees offered by community colleges in the healthcare field grew by an astonishing 111 percent. In addition, certificates provided by community colleges in the healthcare industry grew by 240 percent during the same time frame. By the end of the 2009-2010 school year, community colleges nationwide awarded more than 177,000 healthcare degrees alone.

The study conducted by Community College Week used data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Set (IPEDS). According to the Community College Week website, while the information was complete for each college listed, all eligible colleges are not included on the current list. However, most schools not listed were relatively small institutions that rarely impacted the study's results. According to the publication's website, Community