Sociology in Two-Year Institutions

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In the second half of the twentieth cen tury, both the number of two-year institu tions and the proportion of all college stu dents enrolled in community colleges ex panded rapidly (Kerr 1991). From 1950 through 1975, student enrollment in com munity colleges rose from just over a mil lion students to nearly four million. By the mid-1990s, community colleges employed over a third of this country's faculty (Lucas 1996). The number of four-year institutions has increased in a relatively linear fashion since 1920. In contrast, the number of two year institutions grew from 1920 through 1940, stayed relatively constant through 1960, and then increased rapidly thereafter, particularly in the decade of the 1960s. In 1920, less than five percent of institutions were two-year colleges. By 1960, this pro portion was up to 26 percent, jumping to nearly 35 percent by 1970, and surpassing 40 percent by the 1990s. Student enrollment increased accordingly. In 1950, the enroll ment in four-year institutions was nearly ten times that in two-year institutions. By 1990, nearly 40 percent of all college and univer Lauren R. Contreras