One of the core missions shared by virtually all community colleges is enabling low-income students and those with relatively weak academic achievement to continue their education and acquire useful skills. Due to increased recognition of the benefits of higher education and the rising costs of four-year degrees, increasing numbers of students, many of whom are immigrants or members of racial/minority groups, are applying to two-year community colleges.
Many community colleges are finding it difficult to deal with this new enrollment onslaught. This article details three key challenges that community colleges face: underprepared students, financial stress, and high dropout rates.
This article was published in Issues in Science and Technology, vol. 24, no. 4. Permission was granted to post this article in its entirety.
