Community colleges play a crucial role in increasing access to higher education for a wide range of students. According to our research using the National Education Longitudinal Study, the majority of students who enroll initially in these institutions do not earn degrees or certificates even eight years after their scheduled high-school graduation. While it is true that many community-college students do not enroll in those institutions with the intent to graduate or transfer, the low graduation and transfer rates that have been documented in the literature deserve some attention. What can college faculty members and administrators, as well as policy makers, do to improve student retention, completion, and transfer? To answer that question, colleges need information about what happens to their students: when, why, and under what circumstances they leave; and what programs and policies are effective in improving their educational experiences. Research that we have been conducting over the last year suggests that the institutional-research function at most community colleges is not set up to provide those types of answers. Community-college faculty members and administrators confront very significant problems with one hand tied behind their backs. They lack the information that they need to devise comprehensive solutions to the problems of student success.

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