Short End of the Stick: Why Some Community College Students Can't Get Federal Loans

Two years ago, with a morbidly slumping economy and unemployment rates rising to the highest levels in decades, President Obama turned to community colleges as a means of bringing our country back to a state of robust economic health. According to a Washington Post report, Obama told the country that being unemployed is "no longer just a time to look for a new job." Instead, it's time to "prepare yourself for a better job."

To make it easier for displaced workers to get the training they needed to find employment once again, President Obama developed a plan that would allow unemployed workers to continue to receive unemployment benefits, as well as Pell Grants, to head back to school for retraining. Obama said, "I have asked every American to commit to at least one year of higher education. Every American will need more than a high school education."

Community Colleges Put it in Gear

To achieve Obama's end, community colleges across the country started kicking it into high gear, networking with employers in their area to provide job-specific training that would get the people in their communities back to work once again. However, it wasn't long before the economic crunch took its toll on higher education as well, and community colleges were forced to tighten their belts along with the rest of the country. With many budget cuts to grapple with, class sizes grew bigger and waitlists got longer. Still,

Community colleges have come to the forefront of higher education in recent years since President Obama made them one of the priorities of his administration. To help the process along, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program recently published a list of what it calls the nation's 120 best community colleges – which is the top 10 percent of all community colleges in the country. This list comes after extensive data collecting and analysis that attempted to accommodate the broad variations within community colleges while adhering to a general standardization that accurately compares schools.

The Contest for Top Spot

Now that the top 10% college list has been completed, the Aspen Institute hopes to continue the process by choosing 10 colleges out of the original 120. From the list of 10, the organization will select a single, top-performing school to award $1 million for excellence in school performance. According to the Aspen Institute's website, the contest's purpose is to raise awareness of the value of community colleges and reward those institutions that are committed to maintaining the highest standards of excellence in their educational pursuits.

To help them achieve this goal, the Aspen Institute recently appointed a high-profile jury to select the 10 finalists for the prize. The co-chairs of the jury are former Michigan Governor John Engler and former Secretary of Education Richard Riley. Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attended the announcement event. The Aspen prize had previously

California is amidst a genuine budget crisis, and higher education students are feeling the pinch just as much – if not more – than the rest of the state. According to a recent report at Mercury News, Governor Jerry Brown's proposed budget cuts would trim another $400 million from community colleges and raise student fees by 40 percent. Some predict that the reduction would result in about 400,000 community college students being unable to get the necessary courses to complete their degree programs. While lawmakers continue to debate the proposed budget and its effect on California residents, college students are taking matters into their own hands.

What is Hands Across California?

Hands Across California is the latest organized effort by Ken Kragen, known for his work with Hands Across America, NetAid, and We Are the World fundraisers. Kragen entered the picture to help community college advocates raise awareness of the financial needs of students across the state. According to the Huffington Post, this movement, which took place on April 17, served two purposes: to raise awareness of today's college students' critical needs and to raise funding to support needy students through additional scholarships.

Money raised through Hands across California will go directly to support the California Community Colleges Scholarship Endowment. The Bernard Osher Foundation, well known for its support of the California community college system, has pledged a 50 percent match to all funds collected.

On April 17, 2011, community college students, employees,

Students enter community college with plans to eventually transfer to a four-year university for a number of reasons. The student may have limited funds and will try to save money by getting lower division courses out of the way at community college, before heading to a university to complete major requirements. Some students may not have a high enough GPA at graduation to move directly into the university of their choice, so they take the first year or two of classes at community college until their GPA is high enough for a successful transfer.

No matter what your reason for transferring from community college, success in your academic endeavors is surely your ultimate goal. This article will explore the success rate of community college students that transfer to a four-year institution, as well as some of the factors that help determine performance after transferring.

What is Transfer Shock?

One concern for community college students transferring to four-year institutions is something commonly referred to as "transfer shock" in higher education circles. According to a report at the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) website, transfer shock refers to the dip in grade point average that is experienced during the first or second semester at a new school. Transfer shock is a concern for educators as well as students, and it may impact the number of transfer students a university may be willing to accept in any given year.

Transfer shock is a very real phenomenon that affects