In "Hire Education: Community Colleges are Bursting at the Seams (But Not with Funding)," Village Voice reporter Catherine Wigginton discusses the challenges and findings presented in CCRC's latest book, Defending the Community College Equity Agenda. The article emphasizes CCRC Director Thomas Bailey's concern that community colleges are under too much budgetary pressure.

According to Wigginton:

In Defending the Community College Equity Agenda, researchers point out that community colleges are key in providing higher education and can serve as a bridge to the middle class for immigrants, people of color, and those in the lowest income brackets. But achieving that mission has been difficult, say the book's authors. Although four-fifths of the students entering community colleges say that their goal is to earn a bachelor's degree or higher, only 18 percent actually do that within eight years of their enrollment date.

That's not only very low but very troubling, considering that nearly 50 percent of all credit-earning undergraduates in the United States are enrolled in community colleges. "I think people are often surprised at that number," says Thomas Bailey, co-editor of the new volume and director of the Community College Research Center at Columbia University's Teachers College. "These are institutions that aren't on the radar."

Besides having half of all students nationwide, community colleges enroll a disproportionate share of the country's poorest students.

Bailey points out that community colleges are more dependent on state budget agendas than any other institution— CUNY schools receive funding from Albany, through local property taxes, and by charging tuition—and overall funding has been dwindling since the early part of the decade.

In spite of less funding and low graduation rates, enrollment continues to grow at community colleges. Bailey explains this in two parts. First, there are simply more college-aged students in the U.S. now, a result of immigration and the echo boom (baby boomers' children). Second, the growing necessity of at least some post–high school training and the high costs of four-year schools mean more people are choosing community colleges because of their low cost and accessibility.

But the schools have trouble keeping up. "The students enrolled in community colleges are overrepresented by low-income, minority, and immigrant students—many of the types of students that education policy makers are concerned with," explains Bailey. "And these schools receive less funding per student than public four-year colleges and universities." Moreover, say the book's authors, community colleges must, in a sense, be everything to everyone…

--Read the full-length article at: http://www.villagevoice.com/arts/0702,wigginton,75497,12.html

--Learn more about the book: Defending the Community College Equity Agenda