AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Community College enrollment across the U.S. has sky-rocketed over the past few years. But now the American Association of Community Colleges is reporting some not-so-good numbers about how many of those students are actually graduating.
The AACC report, Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation's Future, less than half of students who enter a community college graduate or transfer to a four-year college with six years.
President of Amarillo College, Dr. Paul Matney told Pronews 7 although enrollment is up at AC as well, the school isn't satisfied with its completion numbers.
"Between transfer and completing a certificate or degree over a three year period, about 25 percent," reported Matney. "It's really important to have students sitting in our classrooms and laboratories but what's even more important is to have them crossing the state two weeks from now, earning a certificate or degree."
Matney said there are many reasons for the lower completion numbers. For example, two thirds of AC students are part-time, many working or taking care of their families. Also, lots of students aren't college ready when first entering a community college and have to spend time taking remedial classes before being ready to take college-level courses. Matney also said financial struggles play a role in how quickly students are able to graduate and/or transfer.
"Many of our students come to us without a lot of resources," he said. "So they really have to work to afford their tuition fees and textbooks but what a great mission it is to help those students that are so important in our society be successful, complete, get that job or transfer."
There are 1,200 community colleges in the United States and now, Amarillo College is one of the only 150 of those schools to be an "Achieving The Dream" school. In the fall, AC will begin implementing new strategies to try to help boost its student success rate.
"One of the things that our Achieving The Dream strategy is doing is helping us really get to know who our students are," explained Matney. "What are those barriers that prevent them from completing school and we're going things like mandatory orientations, we're going to do accelerated developmental learning, we're going to recommend a first year experience course."
AC plans to start implementing those strategies in the fall of 2012, if not sooner.
