“the Role Of Colleges In Addressing The Student Loan Crisis”

“the Role Of Colleges In Addressing The Student Loan Crisis” – Elizabeth Mann Levesque Elizabeth Mann Levesque Former Specialist, Student Support and Classroom Climate Consultant – University of Michigan @elizkmann

Many community college students in America do not complete a credential or degree, which dramatically reduces earning potential. However, evidence suggests that helping students navigate the college environment and connect their coursework to their lives can help solve the community college completion conundrum. In this report, Elizabeth Mann Levesque presents the structural and motivational barriers these students face, potential solutions, and policy recommendations for increasing completion rates.

“the Role Of Colleges In Addressing The Student Loan Crisis”

Community colleges have the potential to provide students in the United States with viable pathways to well-paying jobs. However, many students who enroll in community colleges in the United States do not complete a certificate or degree. Specifically, less than 40 percent of community college students earn a certificate or degree within six years of enrollment (Bailey et al. 2015). Individuals who do not complete any type of certificate (also known as a credential) after a high school diploma face a dramatic loss of earning potential (Belfield and Bailey 2017). Low completion rates are thus an urgent problem for millions of Americans who depend on the middle class and employers to have a skilled and educated workforce.

Improving Community College Completion Rates By Addressing Structural And Motivational Barriers

To address this issue, this report discusses structural and motivational barriers facing community college students, as well as strategies to overcome these barriers. The key points are to make it easy for students.

Can improve student outcomes. This analysis is relevant to community colleges, policy makers who want to provide students with a viable path to economic mobility, employers who hope to strengthen their workforce development partnerships, and economic non-profits. For philanthropists investing in reducing equity.

Before proceeding, it is important to note that this report is not intended to be a comprehensive discussion of all barriers faced by community college students. Many factors contribute to low completion rates, including inadequate academic preparation and financial barriers, despite the relative affordability of public two-year colleges (Holzer and Baum 2017; Goldrick-Rab 2016). Indeed, addressing academic and financial barriers is fundamentally important to improving community college completion. 1 The purpose here is to highlight two particular barriers, structural and motivational, that policymakers, colleges, and employers must address to improve students’ prospects.

Making it easier for students to navigate the college environment and connect their coursework to their lives can improve student outcomes.

How Might We Re Imagine The Role Of Higher Education Institutions To Meet The Needs Of Learners In A New Regional Ecosystem?

Section 1 discusses the role that community colleges play in the higher education landscape, the well-known but unrelenting problem of low completion rates, and the value of completing a postsecondary credential or degree. Sections 2 and 3 discuss structural and motivational constraints, respectively. Section 4 discusses policy recommendations on how to address these barriers.

Extensive evidence indicates that completing a certificate or degree beyond a high school diploma, from an associate’s degree to a doctorate, improves employment outcomes and earnings for individuals (Oyserman 2012; Holzer and Baum 2017; Carnevale et al. 2017; Belfield and Bailey 2017). Yet, community colleges, as institutions of higher learning that serve a large proportion of low-income students, graduate less than 40 percent of students within six years (Bailey et al. 2015). Thus, community colleges have considerable unrealized potential to improve income and employment outcomes for people at the bottom of the income distribution.

Indeed, community colleges can play an important role in providing a pathway to upward economic mobility due to their ability to reach large populations of low-income and minority students. In fall 2015, community colleges accounted for 41 percent of all U.S. undergraduates. Additionally, community colleges provide a large share of the nation’s nonwhite undergraduates: 56 percent Native American, 52 percent Hispanic, 43 percent African-American, and 40 percent Asian/Pacific Islander. Public community colleges are also more affordable than four-year colleges. For 2017-18, average annual tuition and fees for public, in-district community colleges was $3,570 compared to $9,970 for public, in-state four-year colleges. A 2011 analysis found that “44 percent of low-income students (those with a family income of less than $25,000 per year) attend community colleges as their first college after high school.”3 In short, community colleges Offer a pathway to higher education. For a large portion of low-income and minority students.

Fewer than 40 percent of community college students earn a certificate or degree within six years of enrollment.

Addressing Educational Disadvantage In Schools And Colleges: The Essex

Post-secondary certificate or degree. Bailey et al. (2015) summarize the problem: “Most students who enter these colleges never finish: fewer than four in ten complete any degree or certificate within six years” (p. 1). For example, one analysis shows that, of students enrolled in community college, only 26 percent earn an associate’s or bachelor’s degree after six years (Jacob 2018).

It’s also troubling when we consider the four-year degree completion rate for students who start at community colleges. According to the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Columbia University Teachers College (CCRC), 81 percent of students entering community college indicate they want to earn at least a bachelor’s degree, but only 33 percent Has transferred to a four-year institution within six. years (Horn and Skomsvold 2011; Jenkins and Fink 2016). Of those who transfer, the CCRC reports that “42 percent complete a bachelor’s degree within six years (Jenkins and Fink 2016).” The startling implication is that “only 14 percent of students who enter community college earn a bachelor’s degree within six years (Jenkins and Fink 2016).” 4 Clearly, the problem is not a lack of desire among community college students. (Aelenei et al. 2017). Rather, as this report will discuss in detail, structural barriers at many community colleges often make it difficult for students to achieve their goals.

In addition, college completion rates vary systematically by household income. Comparing age cohorts born in 1961–1964 and 1979–1982, Bailey and Dynarski (2011) found that college enrollment and completion rates differed for children from high- and low-income households of both cohorts. The rate has increased over time. However, they note that “the gains were highly uneven, with the largest gains at the top of the income distribution and the smallest at the bottom” (p. 120). While the college completion rate for the 1979–1982 birth cohort is 54 percent for students from households in the highest income quartile, this rate declines sharply as income decreases, to 32 percent for households in the third quartile. percent, 21 percent in the second quartile, and only 9 percent in the lowest quartile.5

These low completion rates are clearly problematic, especially in light of the evidence that completing a two-year degree is undeniably valuable in terms of earning potential. Belfield and Bailey (2017) reviewed analyzes from eight states and found that the average earnings of completing an associate’s degree compared to enrolling in college but not completing a degree were $4,460 for men and $4,460 for women. is $7,160.

Addressing A Disability In Your College Application

(p. 7) 6 In a different analysis of data from the state of Florida, Holzer and Baum (2017) similarly find large returns to higher education. which are associated with a 99 and 71 percent increase in earnings, respectively, relative to completing only a high school diploma. Although the advantages of two-year degrees are smaller, they remain substantial. They found that, on average, completing an associate’s degree was associated with a 37 percent increase in earnings compared to completing just a high school diploma. , in some cases, students graduating with a two-year degree in one field earn more than students with a four-year degree in another field. He explains: “For example, an engineering technician with an associate’s degree can make more than a guidance counselor with a master’s degree” (p. 61).

Not all associate degrees carry the same benefits. Belfield and Bailey (2017) find heterogeneity in the returns to associate degrees across fields, although they find that in all eight states in their analysis, “earnings gains are largest for health-related fields” ( page 12). Holzer and Baum (2017) explore the differences between Associate of Arts versus Associate of Science degrees. The return on an Associate of Science or Applied Science degree is, on average, 59 percent higher than the return on a high school diploma. In comparison, the return on an associate of arts degree is, on average, 29 percent higher than the return on a high school diploma. Return to Associate Degrees in the Arts” (p. 12). 10 In addition, there is a significant difference in outcomes for students attending for-profit colleges compared to public institutions. Cellini and Turner (2018) found that certificate For students in the programs, “in all 50 states and Washington, DC, students at public institutions have higher incomes and lower debt than their counterparts at for-profit institutions” (p. 3). Despite this difference in associate degrees, one thing is clear: community

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