Community colleges occupy a vital space in the landscape of American higher education, providing broad access to postsecondary education and training that has become increasingly essential to secure living-wage jobs. Yet community colleges face unprecedented challenges, including low retention rates and declining enrollment amidst growing skepticism about the value of a college degree.
Despite the challenges they face, community colleges are well positioned to provide the low-cost, high-value postsecondary education that students expect and deserve. This article in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning describes lessons from the new book from CCRC, More Essential Than Ever: Community College Pathways to Educational and Career Success, which takes stock of lessons learned through a decade of research on whole-college guided pathways reforms at over 100 colleges nationally. In it, the authors outline five next-frontier strategies that leading colleges are already pursuing to increase student enrollment and completion. To ensure programs have strong value for students, the authors argue that community colleges need to strengthen pathways to employment and further education by designing programs, instruction, recruitment, onboarding, and student supports with students’ end goals in mind.