No Child Left Behind: The Community College Edition
Every
student who completes a federal financial aid application has to look
at the dismal City College completion and graduation rates, extracted
from the National Center for Education Statistics.
In
2010, only ten percent of entering students were counted as full time.
The retention rate for full time students was sixty-one percent but
thirty-five percent for part time students. Only fifteen percent
graduated with degrees or certificates. Only twelve percent of LACC students transferred to universities.
In
order to boost the numbers, a statewide organization known as the
California Community Colleges Student Success Task Force is gearing up
for reform to boost graduation and transfer rates.
How do you boost numbers?
Get
rid of the weakest link—part time students who struggle with work and
family duties. They have obligations that compete with school.
The
Task Force intends to prioritize fee waivers for full time students to
ensure that their degrees are completed within “normal” time. For an
associate degree, three years is the maximum period of “normal” to
complete that study.
Proponents
of the task force have described their goals as ensuring
accountability. In a financial crisis, how can the state continue to
invest in “lazy” students who don't bother with their classes? The
state should allocate its funds to the more “motivated” full time
students, the Task Force recommends.
Community colleges have been known for its access. The community college system in California is the largest in the nation.
To register for City College takes seconds whereas getting into UCLA takes months of preparations.
Should higher education really be available to everyone who desires it?
The
resources and finances at community colleges are bleeding. The Task
Force argues that resources must be “rationed.” Full time students
should receive fee waivers and priority registrations. The safe
investments are the students who are progressing at “normal” time,
whereas, students who are progressing slower would be considered riskier
investments. When degrees are not achieved in “normal” time, the
figures make City College look like a campus of idiots and dilettantes.
Vigorous
opponents from San Francisco City College have argued that getting rid
of noncredit courses and a prioritization for full time students as
privatization.
The
retention and graduation figures don't tell the full story. They don’t
reveal students who are at City to learn for the sake of learning, to
dabble into a new field, to retrain, to get their feet wet into an area
that they had always desired but pursued another major field because of
parental pressures.
But government likes numbers. The percentages are too low. Make 'em higher by kicking out the ones who bring down the numbers?
Learners
exploring their desires need not apply. Financial aid will be tied to
grades and “normal” pace of progress towards degrees and transferring.
The Task Force intends to build a transfer powerhouse with numbers to
show off.
Community
colleges have always been seen as the one accessible oasis to the
population with the harshest adversities: minorities, first generation
college students, low income, working-class.
Students
who want to explore and slow pokes who stick around City College beyond
three years—Sorry, my friends, the Task Force wants you out.
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| Illustration by Jose Tobar |
