Priorities for community college student success

I have just returned from attending the American Association of Community Colleges Annual Convention in San Antonio.  This event attracted more than 2,000 community college presidents and senior administrators to discuss the issues that are top of mind to this sector.  Here are three things I heard as issues:

• Community colleges face decreasing state support, decreasing enrollment numbers, and increasing tuition pressures.
• The community college model encourages enrollments but not completion.
• With fewer high school students in the market, there is even more need for community colleges to focus their resources on retention efforts.

There was good news as well:

• The number of associate degrees and certificates being awarded by community colleges reached an all-time high in the 2013-2014 academic year.
• Between 2010 and 2014, the number of students age 24 years or younger whose first credential was a certificate or associate degree from a community college increased by 6.1 percent. The number whose first credential from a four-year institution with substantial community college experience also rose by 8.3 percent.
• During the 2013-2014 academic year, community colleges either conferred a credential, or were instrumental in the conferral of a four-year college credential, for one million individuals who had no prior postsecondary credential.

(You can find these and other key data points in the AACC’s Community College Completion report.)

While these figures are positive, community colleges are recognizing the need to focus on student completion in order to remain competitive in the marketplace and to fulfill their mission to serve students.

There was also a lot of discussion during the conference about “guided pathways” as a way forward to provide students with:

• Academic pathways for program completion;
• Financial pathways to receive support and to be able to afford to stay enrolled; and
• Career pathways to connect students to job placement and career success.

Community colleges leaders are focusing on helping students know where they belong and who they can connect with on campus, as well as prioritizing what processes and procedures need to be improved to support successful completion efforts.

During the AACC conference, Karen Miller from Cuyahoga Community College and I presented data on the link between student satisfaction and retention at two-year institutions on an individual student level (you can read the findings in this paper, Predicting Student  Retention at Community Colleges).  My colleague Scott Bodfish and I also recently conducted national research that reflects community colleges with higher graduation rates also have higher satisfaction levels.

Many community colleges leaders know that conducting regular satisfaction assessments reflects a commitment to using data to inform decision making and improve the student experience.  Satisfaction data give campuses a means for evaluating student perceptions of an institution, identifying opportunities for improvement, and tracking progress toward those improvements. In San Antonio, I heard over and over again how important it is to use data from and about students to guide the actions that are being taken to move forward.  The data will help you to tell your story, determine funding priorities, and track how you are moving the needle on student satisfaction and retention.

Recognizing the importance of effectively shaping the experience for community college students and to plan targeted interventions, my colleague Mari Normyle and I will be presenting a webinar on Tuesday, May 5, “Enhancing the Success of Community College Students: How Data from Motivational and Satisfaction Assessment Can Guide Your Strategies.”  We invite you to join us this one-hour session to hear how you can:

• Create opportunities for collaboration with campus colleagues to design a campus culture that promotes student success;
• Increase community college student success and completion by designing programs and services that match the motivational needs of your students;
• Prioritize opportunities to increase student satisfaction; and
• Identify at-risk students and intervene earlier to increase their likelihood of success.

If you are looking to add tools to your student success toolkit or to learn how you can most effectively use the satisfaction and motivational assessments you are currently conducting, I encourage you and your colleagues to participate in this webinar.

I will also be presenting a session, “Using Satisfaction Data for Retention” at the National Community College Benchmarking Conference on May 14 in Overland Park, Kansas.  Let me know if you will be attending this event and we can continue the conversation regarding community college priorities for student success. And as always, I welcome your questions and feedback in the comments or through email.