Community College Completion

The future of California will rely on our ability to invest in our human capital.  We must ensure not only that we provide a spot in college for all eligible Californian’s, but that students achieve post secondary success.  

Divided We Fail: Increasing Completion and Closing Racial Gaps in California’s Community Colleges tracked over a quarter of a million degree seeking students in 2003-04 over six years and analyzed their progress and outcomes by major racial/ethnic populations.  It found that after six years after enrolling, 70% of degree seeking students had not completed a certificate or degree, and had not transferred to a university (about 75% of black students and 80% of Latinos). 

California’s 112 community colleges served more than 2.7 million students in 2009-10 and are usually the college of choice for students seeking workforce preparation, transfer, and Associate Degrees. We strongly believe that a funding mechanism for community colleges that provides rewards for moving students through milestones and on to completion, coupled with local flexibility to support student services, will be necessary to improve college completion rates in California.  Last year we introduced the Accelerated Student Success College pilot model as one approach.  

We are hopeful that the recommendations from the Community College League of California’s 2020 Vision Report and the Chancellor’s Office Statewide Student Success Task Force, will provide additional opportunities for substantive reform proposals that focus on improved completion.  We will continue to urge the Governor and state policy makers to prioritize a college completion agenda for California by devising policy and budget reforms that reward student success.