State Policies to Achieve the Dream in Five States: An Audit of State Policies to Aid Student Access to and Success in Community Colleges in the First Five Achieving the Dream States

This report presents the findings of an audit of state policies affecting access to and success in community colleges in five states—Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. Given recent local and state initiatives to implement programs to improve student access and success, this report explores the existence of key policies relating to tuition, student aid, open-door admissions, remedial (or developmental) education, transfer, performance accountability, and a number of other key areas. Recommendations for state policy are also discussed. A version of this paper was published under the title “Helping Students Enter and Succeed: Access, Success, and Accountability Policies in the Achieving the Dream States” in the Community College Journal, vol. 77.