[ti:Some Students Ask 'What Is the Point' of Community College]
[al:Education Report]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-04-16]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Recent research suggests that there has been a big drop in enrollment in community colleges.
[00:11.07]Two-year community colleges fill the gap between high schools and four-year colleges.
[00:18.87]Some students take community college classes to get job training.
[00:24.98]Others go to community colleges to take lower-cost classes before moving to a four-year university. 
[00:34.20]Community colleges can cost thousands of dollars less than four-year schools.
[00:41.19]But some students say credits for classes at community colleges do not always transfer to four-year colleges, and some employers say workers from community colleges are not always ready for jobs. 
[00:59.36]At the same time, there are many jobs for people without a college education, which makes people believe they do not need college.
[01:12.39]Since 2010, the number of students at U.S. community colleges has dropped by 37 percent, or about 2.6 million students.
[01:26.44]Those numbers come from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a non-profit group.
[01:33.97]That is a surprise to many people because, during the same period, the cost of higher education in the U.S. went up sharply. 
[01:45.92]Many private four-year colleges can cost over $40,000 per year. 
[01:53.02]Community colleges cost, on average, less than $4,000 per year. 
[02:01.03]Some are even free of cost.
[02:05.60]Students say they are dropping out of community colleges because they lack support.
[02:11.99]Enrique Camara of Washington state was a good student in high school. 
[02:19.15]He wanted to take audio engineering classes. 
[02:22.58]But when he got to Shoreline Community College, he said it felt like he was in "a weird maze." He felt lost.
[02:33.22]He said he had trouble getting help with things like choosing the correct classes and getting financial aid.
[02:41.66]Camara said he had to "run from office to office" to find out what to do. 
[02:47.73]After two school terms, Camara left Shoreline and he now works at a restaurant and plays music in two bands.
[02:57.68]Camara is not the only student who had problems.
[03:02.12]Megan Parish is 26. She lives in the southern state of Arkansas. 
[03:08.87]She has been taking community college classes since 2016.
[03:14.27]She said she often has trouble getting information from administrators and advisers.
[03:20.00]Sometimes it took 30 days to get an answer from a person in the financial aid office.
[03:27.20]Twenty-year-old Oryanan Lewis is in a program for medical assistants at Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Alabama. 
[03:37.00]She has had problems finishing her schoolwork because of a chronic sickness.
[03:42.43]Because she missed many classes, she was put on academic probation.
[03:47.67]That meant she was in danger of failing school.
[03:51.66]She said she only got attention from people who worked at the college when they realized she might leave.
[03:58.73]I feel like they should talk to their students more," Lewis said.
[04:02.87]"Because a person can have a whole lot going on." 
[04:06.42]That means they might have problems others do not know about.
[04:11.13]Supporters of community colleges say they are supposed to help the students who need the most support.
[04:19.50]But there is not enough money to help everyone.
[04:22.95]In 2020, the Center for American Progress, a non-profit group, said community colleges get $8,800 less government money per student than four-year colleges. 
[04:40.37]But experts like Joseph Fuller of Harvard Business School say the lack of money is only an excuse made by schools that are poorly run.
[04:55.27]Davis Jenkins is a researcher at the Community College Research Center, part of Teachers College at Columbia University in New York. 
[05:06.64]He calls the current situation a "reckoning."
[05:10.04]He said the drop in students attending community colleges would look even worse if it were not for high school students. 
[05:20.62]Some high school students take part in programs that enroll them in community college classes.
[05:28.91]Many students at community colleges start school aiming to move on to a four-year college. 
[05:36.65]But research suggests the number of students able to do that is decreasing.
[05:43.66]The two-year schools have the worst completion rates of any kind of university or college. 
[05:51.32]About half the students leave school within the first year. 
[05:55.87]Only about 40 percent finish their two-year school term within six years.
[06:03.59]Many of the students who attend community colleges are minorities. 
[06:08.72]Half of all Hispanic students and 40 percent of all Black students in higher education are at community colleges. 
[06:19.98]If they are having trouble finishing a two-year program, that means they are not moving on to four-year colleges or finishing the job training programs.
[06:33.00]Observers say this is a problem for the U.S. economy. 
[06:37.75]For years, community colleges have trained people to work as nurses, assistants to dentists, auto repair technicians, machine operators and many other jobs. 
[06:53.28]If students do not complete two-year programs to become qualified for jobs, businesses will have trouble finding skilled workers.
[07:05.18]A recent study by the Harvard Business School showed not all employers are happy with community college graduates.
[07:13.62]Only 62 percent of employers thought community college graduates were ready to work.
[07:20.92]In addition, all colleges are having trouble keeping young people in recent years. 
[07:28.51]That is because there are many jobs available right now that pay well and do not require a college education.
[07:36.73]This hurts community colleges more than four-year colleges.
[07:43.12]In Michigan, the number of students going to community colleges dropped three times faster than those going to four-year colleges.
[07:51.13]That information comes from the state's Center for Educational Performance and Information. 
[07:57.49]It covers the period from 2018 to 2021.
[08:02.69]Even with all the problems, some community colleges do very well.
[08:07.83]Joseph Fuller, the professor at Harvard Business School, studies management.
[08:13.54]He said concerns about community colleges lacking enough money are "legitimate."
[08:20.58]"But a number of community colleges do extraordinarily well," Fuller said.
[08:26.37]"So, it's not impossible."
[08:29.98]I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Dan Friedell.