With
the 2020 election coverage heating up (especially for Democrats), there's been
a swarm of people discussing the concept of "free college" for all
Americans. At www.berniesanders.com, his platform for education is clear,
"Everyone deserves the right to a good higher education if they choose to
pursue it, no matter their income." Bernie includes four-year, public
colleges, universities, and community colleges in this plan. According to his
calculations, this would save each student $84,000 (price of four years
"all-in" for a bachelor’s degree). I am a huge student education
advocate and believe that a bachelor’s degree is simply table-stakes for not
only entering the job community, but for advancing one's career.
What
puzzles me about "free college" is the wide disparity of the quality
of education, depending on which "free college" one might attend. For
example, who goes to community colleges (which primarily provide associate
degrees)? In the U.S. there are 1,051 community colleges, representing seven
million students in 2019 (AACC website). Unfortunately, (according to the Hechinger Report), fewer than one out of five students at
community colleges obtain their desired degree in three years or less. A recent
study published by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) paints a similarly
grim picture by indicating that high college dropout rates cost both state and
federal governments billions of dollars each year. As shown in the graph
above, data from the National Center for Education Statistics, shows that only
13 percent of community college students graduate in two years. Within three
years, approximately 22 percent of students graduate, and within four years,
the rate stands at 28 percent.
There
have been many studies published in the academic community about the root
causes of these high dropout rates and longer attendance periods in order to
reach a degree. While more repeatable studies are needed, some investigators
claim that the conclusions are inaccurate because a portion of students
"dropping-out" of community colleges may be transferring to a
four-year institution without attaining an associate degree. Others point out
that dropout rates are inflated because they only look at up to a five-year
time frame. Due to family/personal reasons or circumstances beyond their
control, a segment of dropouts may go back later (5-7 years) and complete a
degree. There is also discussion regarding many of the students who show up in
reports as “dropouts” did not leave school because they wanted to, rather, they
were compelled to by some uncontrollable life event.
I
think, regardless of these alternative explanations, there is a serious problem
with community colleges and their ability to do better than a 25% success rate
(IPEDS). With federal funding (63% of tuition) and state funding (17% of tuition),
community colleges are struggling in almost every area: attracting qualified
instructors, attracting students (overall), aging facilities, changing student
population (older students, diversity students), outdated teaching
methodologies, lack of personalized learning, and a lack of digital
technologies (while most colleges/universities are in the middle of an enormous
digital transformation). These challenges directly impact student engagement
and likely amounts to a significant contributing factor to high drop-out rates.
I
have an 18-year old son who recently enrolled at my "local - not to be
named - community college." I realize that citing one example doesn't
really provide any substantial evidence. It does, however, help to illustrate
these challenges. His enrollment experience was worse than registering a car
with the DMV. The college's move towards digital transformation is practically
invisible. From their website, to their ability to help, practically every task
was a physical chore. Instructors are teaching from 20-year old textbooks.
Their Learning Management System (LMS) is one of the popular ones (brand
purposefully omitted here), but instructors simply haven't adopted it. In
almost every way, my son's public high school was better.
If
this type of environment is even partially similar at other community colleges,
it begs the question: is this the "free college" that Bernie Sanders
has in mind? Perhaps we need to evaluate how to transform our decaying
community college systems in the U.S., before we start giving it away.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/community-college-dilemma-adam-petrovsky