February 15, 2022

Community Colleges Find Creative Ways to Entice Students Back to Campus Despite Enrollment Lows

CCRC Senior Research Associate Hana Lahr joined a discussion about how community colleges are bringing students back to campus on the daily talk show Where We Live from Connecticut Public Radio/WNPR.

February 15, 2022

Rethinking Remedial Programs to Promote College Student Success

CCRC Research Affiliates Florence Xiaotao Ran and Yuxin Lin wrote about their CCRC research on corequisite remediation for The Brookings Institution's Brown Center Chalkboard. Their research adds to the consensus that corequisite remediation is much more effective than traditional prerequisite remediation.

February 11, 2022

Legislation Expands Pell Grants but Excludes Online Ed

CCRC Director Tom Brock told Inside Higher Ed that instead of excluding all online programs from an expansion of short-term Pell Grants, Congress should enact quality standards requiring institutions to demonstrate that students get jobs that justify the investment.

February 05, 2022

The US Desperately Needs Skilled Workers. But the Community Colleges That Train Them Are Woefully Underfunded

In a story on the importance of community colleges in workforce training, CCRC Director Tom Brock told CNN Business that he’s concerned about the possibility that a downward funding spiral could hurt community colleges and their students.

January 26, 2022

How Dual Enrollment Varies Across Southern States

Diverse: Issues in Higher Education wrote about a new report from the Southern Regional Education Board on dual enrollment in the region. John Fink, a senior research associate at CCRC, told Diverse that dual enrollment can be an equity lever if used intentionally.

January 20, 2022

Strapped Community Colleges to Receive Additional $198 Million in Aid From Biden Administration

The public radio program Marketplace Morning Report interviewed CCRC Director Tom Brock on additional funding for community colleges from the American Rescue Plan. Brock said he would like to see the funding paired with research into the most effective ways to use the money to support students.

January 20, 2022

Merger Yields a New College and Student Supports

Inside Higher Ed reports on a new private two-year college that will focus on underserved students. CCRC Senior Research Scholar Davis Jenkins said the model could provide access to bachelor's degrees and valuable workforce credentials, but such colleges need to plan carefully to ensure their students can move forward in their education and careers.

January 13, 2022

Pandemic Enrollment Drops Leave 1 Million Potential Students Behind

With another drop in community college enrollment in fall 2021, CCRC Director Tom Brock told Diverse: Issues in Higher Education that enrollment was already falling before the pandemic but that concerns about the virus are suppressing the numbers even further. Hands-on programs are especially hurting.

December 06, 2021

An ‘Unbelievable Comeback’

While community colleges across the country continue to struggle with pandemic-related enrollment declines, Spartanburg Community College bucked the trend and saw its student headcount increase. CCRC Senior Research Associate John Fink told Inside Higher Ed that Spartanburg is "an exciting outlier."

December 01, 2021

Stakeholders Assess the State of the Free Community College Movement

The free community college provision was struck from the Build Back Better Bill, which CCRC Director Thomas Brock told Diverse: Issues in Higher Education may have been a blessing in disguise. This story takes stock of where the sector goes from here, especially considering variation in price, funding structure, and college quality in states across the country.