In this Community College Week op-ed, CCRC Director Thomas Bailey discusses NYC Mayor Bloomberg's proposed plan to help low-income individuals access CUNY’s community colleges.

"Unless you were paying close attention to his State of the City address, you probably missed one of Mayor Bloomberg’s most innovative recommendations for fighting poverty…his program to help 1,000 high school students and adults from poor neighborhoods go to The City University of New York‘s community colleges and graduate with the skills they need to land higher paying jobs. The program, called Accelerated Study in Associated Programs, will admit students to associate-degree programs closely related to future employment prospects. The ambitious goal for the program is for 50 percent of the participants to earn an associate degree and gain employment or enter a baccalaureate program within three years, and for 75 percent to do so within four years.

"Although 1,000 is a small number in a city of eight million, this is a step in the right direction. Indeed, it could be a winning formula for economic growth nationwide, but only if it affects the day-to-day operations of the colleges and we get serious about addressing the challenges that prevent community  colleges from serving students most in need.  

"The most democratic of the higher education institutions, community colleges educate the students who face the greatest barriers to education: those who are minorities, immigrants, first generation college students, come from low income families or are academically unprepared for college. Consider that in 2005, Bronx Community College alone enrolled about 7,000 African American and Hispanic students, while fewer than 7,500 matriculated as undergraduates in all of the Ivy League. To boot, the majority of these Bronx students came from lower income families than their counterparts at Harvard or Columbia universities.

"Despite the importance of community colleges and the best intentions and hard work of their faculty and staff members, we are failing these students in profound ways. A majority of incoming students expect to earn a bachelor’s degree but only 18 percent obtain one within eight years of enrolling. Some 15 percent earn an associate degree. Many fail to make it through their first year, much less reap the benefits of programs that help them take advantage of new opportunities in the global economy. These facts are hardly revelations to those who study and work in the institutions. The question is what to do about it"…

--Subscribers of Community College Week can read this article in its entirety at http://www.ccweek.com/news/articlefiles/48-CCW040907-Web.pdf