An overlooked Oasis? Education advocates say two-year institutions should not be considered an afterthought, but rather belong at the centerpiece of the nation's higher education agenda - Academic Kickoff Special Report: community colleges - viable role of community colleges in educating minorities

Black Issues in Higher Education, August 28, 2003 by Kendra Hamilton

This highly diverse group of 75 elite students They--counted 22 countries of origin between them, from Israel to Rwanda to Venezuela--could have gone to college anywhere, says Dr. Alexandria Holloway, dean of the college. They all had scores of either 1200 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT, GPAs of at least 3.7 and stellar essays and interviews. But they chose the intense yet supp0rtive program at Miami-Dade.

"They chose us because they knew the level of support would give them the edge," Holloway says. "They know if they'd gotten into a big school, there might be as many as 500 kids in a class, and it would be taught by a TA. Here, they are taught by professors, and those professors prize teaching, are rewarded for teaching. Most have doctorates, have published, have endowed teaching awards, but most importantly they are caring professionals."

And the care has paid off. Honors College students won acceptances to a stellar cadre of elite schools: Amherst, Notre Dame, Yale, Cornell, Georgetown, NYU, Columbia, Duke, Chapel Hill and Howard, to name just a few.

QUESTIONS LINGER

But the questions linger. Are community colleges an overlooked oasis in the higher education landscape, a place where immature or unready students can find their feet before moving on to success in four-year institutions and perhaps beyond? Or is the picture much darker? Are they mills that churn students in and out in an endless round that's profitable for the institutions but wasteful of student time and resources?

"I've certainly heard that criticism and it's a great point, but there are so many myths surrounding community-college education," Bumphus says. "There's a myth that our courses don't transfer to four-year institutions--that students will come in and take a lot of courses and end up unable to more on. That's simply not true."

In Louisiana, for example, there are articulation agreements allowing transfers to the Southern University system, and agreements are being worked out with Louisiana State University and even Jackson State in neighboring Mississippi, Bumphus says.

"There's also a myth that students come and only a small percentage graduate. But it's only recently that studies have asked, 'What are the goals students enter community college with?' Many of our students come for short-term retooling, retraining. Many already have baccalaureate degrees, master's degrees, and they're here for continuing ed or certification," Bumphus adds.

Williams of BCC agrees. "I don't think that student intent has been looked at until quite recently," she says. "But there are new studies from the U.S. Department of Education that show quite clearly looking at graduation rates absent student intent is quite misleading. Many don't intend to graduate. But those who come with the goal of baccalaureate transfer do so within six years. And they outperform students who started at senior colleges."

The NCES' "Condition of Education" report, published in 2003, does make the picture a bit plainer. A study of community college students who started school in 1995-1996 reveals that the number who entered such institutions with a degree goal was roughly three-quarters of the total, with another 10.8 percent indicating they were seeking a certificate and 15.6 percent indicating no degree goal.