Community colleges are a critical component of the U.S. higher education system, providing access to students from traditionally underserved communities. However, enduring challenges to completion stemming from educational, economic, and social inequities persist. Building on prior work that examines barriers to student success and their relationship to student outcomes, this paper examines the relationship between community college students’ academic persistence and their time utilization, engagement with campus resources, and financial and mental well-being. It also examines the relative importance of these factors for community college students’ educational attainment. The paper is based on a descriptive study that uses self-reported, web-based survey data on nearly 600 community college students attending two Hispanic-serving institutions complemented with rich administrative data records to provide a comprehensive portrait of elements linked to student outcomes.
The authors find that the incidence of adverse mental health is comparable to that of four-year undergraduate populations. The rates of food and housing insecurity are comparable to rates found in previous studies—they are strikingly high. While a plurality of respondents engaged with multiple campus resources, this engagement was unrelated to their propensity to remain enrolled or complete additional credits. Most notably, mental health conditions were negatively related to persistence and credit accumulation, while the relationship between academic outcomes and measures of food and housing insecurity was smaller and not significant. These findings suggest that facilitating access to mental health supports is a prominent avenue for supporting student engagement and success.
