Is Comprehensiveness Taking Its Toll on Community Colleges?: An In-depth Analysis of Community Colleges' Missions and Their Effectiveness

Abstract

Access to higher education has always been a topic of contention. Currently, community colleges comprise the sector for open-access to American higher and postsecondary education; and so, they must align their missions to meet the needs of their increasingly diverse student populations. These two-year institutions originated to ensure access to higher education by serving students who were not yet qualified or capable of succeeding at four-year institutions. Over time, there has been a definite shift in the mission and identity of community colleges—not necessarily favoring one mission over the other, but certainly taking on more missions as the student population and its needs grew. Consequently, the implications of this mission and identity shift on the education of community college students must be explored further. Although community colleges claim to uphold all their missions and to meet their students’ needs, are they actually doing what many two-year institutions were founded on, which is allowing access to higher education by transferring their students to four-year, baccalaureate-degree granting institutions. This paper examines the paradox community colleges face by maintaining open access and multiple missions to address their constituents’ needs while attempting to adhere to their traditional mission of transferring students to four-year institutions.