The Completion Agenda Impact on Student Affairs Practice in Community Colleges

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article considers student affairs practice within the Completion Agenda by studying community college student affairs educators’ beliefs about their work related to the value others attribute to it. The Completion Agenda’s goals are largely economic, and community colleges have been asked to focus on speed rather than the quality of the student experience. Momentum has served as the unifying concept linking recent community college student success literature, and, as a result, student development has become secondary to better completion rates. We approached this research with a belief that student affairs practice contributes to the growth and development of individuals with lifelong value. Neoliberalism, therefore, served as the study’s theoretical framework and challenges a narrative that values college completion for economic means alone. This qualitative study sought to learn from student affairs educators and better understand changes in their work as a result of external forces. Data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with 12 participants in a state with strong community college organization and numerous completion-based initiatives. Documents provided further insight into each institution’s strategies for completion improvement. Themes that arose included participants supporting the Completion Agenda, heightened attention to the role of student affairs related to academic affairs, the importance of college culture, student affairs’ growing student success role at the beginning and end of the student experience, and student affairs occupying a minor place in campus completion plans. The article concludes with limitations, a discussion, and recommendations future research.