Suburban Community College Research Articles

The Moving Target: Student Financial Aid and Community College Student Retention

This article reviews recent literature on student financial aid as a retention tool at community colleges. Enrollment and tuition data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and federal direct grant student aid data from the IPEDS Student Financial Aid Survey are used to analyze changes from 2000–01 to 2005–06. The new 2005 Carnegie Basic Classification of Associate's Colleges is used to reveal differences among rural, suburban, and urban community college types, and the Grapevine definition is used to reveal differences among states with local funding and those without significant local funding. A key finding is that the 40% increase in tuition and the 2.2 million new students enrolled in the past five years overwhelmed the very modest increases in federal direct grant student aid (Pell and Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants) over the same period, lessening the ability of student aid to positively impact retention at America's community colleges.

A Comparison of College Affordability Indexes among City, Suburban, Town, and Rural Public Community Colleges

During the past 50 years, community colleges have increased in number and evolved to meet thechanging needs of an increasingly diverse student population. No other segment of postsecondaryeducation has been more responsive to the needs of its community (Kasper, 2002). Communitycolleges grant associate’s degrees normally requiring 2 years of full-time study for completion.Enrollment at public 4-year colleges and universities nearly doubled from 1965 to 1999, whileenrollments at public community colleges have increased approximately 5-fold (Kasper).

Success Rates for Students Taking Compressed and Regular Length Developmental Courses in the Community College

In recent years, developmental education in the community colleges has received much attention. However, there has been little research examining the relationship between course length and course success in developmental education. Using historical enrollment data from a large, suburban community college in southern California, this study examines the relationship between course length and course success in developmental education when social and academic background characteristics are controlled. The study hypothesized that there would be no significant or practical difference in success rates for students taking compressed (i.e., courses less than eight weeks in length) or regular length developmental English, reading, or math courses when social or academic characteristics are controlled. Results demonstrate that developmental course length was associated with statistically and practically significant differences in course success observed across all categories of age, gender, and ethnicity. Students enrolled in compressed-format courses were more likely to succeed than students enrolled in regular-length courses. Higher successful course completion rates for compressed courses were observed across all departments, with the highest successful course completion rates in the eight-week format in English. Further, students—irrespective of age, race, or gender—were more likely to successfully complete compressed-format courses than their counterparts in regular-length courses. Findings point to an educational benefit for students who enroll in compressed courses. Future research in this area includes an examination of students' progress through a sequence of developmental education courses and a look into the effect of college experience and environment factors related to success in compressed courses.

Online Education and Organizational Change

An in-depth case study examined faculty and administrator perceptions of how online education affected the organizational culture of a large, suburban community college. Findings suggest that in addition to structural and procedural changes, online education had an impact on faculty and administrator roles, teaching and learning (in both online and face-to-face settings), and the community of students and faculty members who comprise the college. The result was a new perception of the organization itself.

Rural Community Colleges: Teaching, Learning, and Leading in the Heartland (review)

Reviewed by: Rural Community Colleges: Teaching, Learning, and Leading in the Heartland Jane McEldowney Jensen, Associate Professor Pamela L. Eddy and John P. Murray (Eds.). Rural Community Colleges: Teaching, Learning, and Leading in the Heartland. New Directions for Community Colleges, No. 137. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007. 120 pp. Paper: $29.00. ISBN: 978-0-7879-9720-5. Driving down the highway across the United States, you may pass a road sign for a local community college. The farther you are from any major city, the larger that sign will probably be. This is because community colleges are important to rural communities as Pamela Eddy and John Murray's edited volume helps us understand, providing real examples from across the country, introducing new ways to view existing data, and calling on researchers and policymakers to pay attention to what the authors call the "rural differential." The first two chapters introduce the new Carnegie classification of institutions which provides a typology of rural, suburban, and metropolitan community colleges. This typology, as David Clothy and Stephen Katsinas explain in the first chapter, is critical to our understanding of differences among community colleges and the serious issues they face, particularly with regard to resources. Along with an accessible introduction to the Carnegie classification scheme and how it has changed, this portion of the text identifies ways in which the new data allow comparative analysis appropriate for community colleges relative to variables like unduplicated headcounts and campus size. Charles Fluharty and Bill Scaggs contend that these variables matter in terms of economies of scale and the ways that rural community colleges are asked to respond to multiple missions, sometimes as the only institution in the area with the social, economic, and political capital to do so. Michael Miller and Daniel Kissinger's description of the contributions these colleges make to their rural contexts in Chapter 3 is a significant piece in itself as the authors help us understand what it means to be rural—beyond population statistics. Yes, rural community colleges serve areas with low population density, but they also do so as one of the few social engines available to their regions. The authors describe the ways that these colleges provide leisure education, cultural enrichment, and economic development in addition to traditional educational opportunity. Furthermore, each institution must fulfill all these roles in a way that identifies with their community as "both a place and a process that involves symbolic, cultural, and personal interaction" (p. 28). The next set of chapters introduce some of the practicalities of rural community college administration: attracting the right kind of president, developing local and state leadership to build sustainable communities, recruiting faculty, and helping them be successful. Jay Leist argues in Chapter 4 that presidential searches should be accurate and honest, asking directly for leadership skills suitable to the local needs of the college rather than searching for generic leaders who may not understand or appreciate local challenges. He provides a useful sample position advertisement to demonstrate his point. [End Page 515] Similarly, Murray and Eddy, in Chapters 6 and 7 respectively, contend that faculty members are more likely to stay if they value the attributes of their rural locations and if the particular challenges of rural faculty appointments are recognized and supported. Both authors recognize that rural instructors share the challenges of underprepared students and heavy teaching loads with their community college peers nationally, but they also acknowledge the sometimes isolating and often rewarding aspect of teaching in rural locations. Identifying and recruiting faculty and administrators to rural community colleges is difficult but critical to the role of the community college as catalysts for economic renewal. Because of the rural campus locations, this human capital must often be home-grown. Molly Clark and Ed Davis provide an example of the MidSouth Community College Fellowship Program, a regionally specific partnership to provide leadership development which includes a curriculum of rural sociology, rural community and economic development, rural government administration, public program evaluation, regional economics, and applied regional economics. Related examples of leadership development from the Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) and the Rural Public Policy Roundtable are referenced in the final chapter. The last few chapters of...

Patterns in Student Financial Aid at Rural Community Colleges

This article uses the 2005 Basic Classifications of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a framing device through which to examine patterns of student financial aid at America's rural community colleges, which represent 64% of all U.S. community colleges. Rural community colleges serve more first-time, full-time students than suburban and urban community colleges, and their 3.2 million students have different patterns of student financial aid. Rural small and medium colleges have the most aided students, receive more Pell Grants and institutional aid, and have more students incurring loan indebtedness than do other types of community colleges. The article offers recommendations for future research, as well as for policy development and practice.

Parents of Traditionally Aged Community College Students: Communications and Choice

Five suburban community colleges in a metropolitan area collaborated on a survey to parents of high school graduates of the class of 2002 who attended the colleges in fall 2002. The study was undertaken to learn more about parents 'roles in their students' selection of community colleges, to give insights and information about this important community college constituency, and to assist community colleges to shape more effective ways to foster positive and supportive opinions among parents of potential students. Parents want the community college to provide students with credits and grade point averages enabling transfer, overestimate their students' academic skills as measured by course placement tests, engaged in a number of college choice activities, and indicate that factors associated with lifestyle and money were major reasons for selecting the community college. Associations between parents' social capital and perceptions of their students' academic abilities were found for a number of dependent variables examined. The study also revealed important differences in how participating institutions record and calculate key measures such as credits earned and grade point averages.

PARTICIPANT PERCEPTIONS OF A COMMUNITY COLLEGE SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAM

Although the term “service-learning” was first used in 1966–67, service-learning has only been actively promoted by the American Association of Community Colleges since 1994. Johnson County Community College, a large, suburban community college located in Overland Park, Kansas, has had a formal service-learning program since 1993–94. To plan effectively for the future of the growing program, all faculty and staff participants since the program's inception were surveyed in 1999–2000 to collect basic information along with faculty and student perceptions of the program and to identify needed changes. Survey results revealed that program participants were well-satisfied with the program, although student respondents especially identified possible areas for change.

TRANSFER RATES AMONG STUDENTS FROM RURAL, SUBURBAN, AND URBAN COMMUNITY COLLEGES: WHAT WE KNOW, DON'T KNOW, AND NEED TO KNOW

During the past decade much thought has been given to the merits and weaknesses of different ways of calculating transfer rates. This debate, although legitimate and necessary, has not led to research on transfer rates among colleges in different geographic locations. Furthermore, the lack of consensus and sometimes neglect in defining geographic location has reduced the reliability of the data that do exist. This article examines what is known about transfer rates by geographic location and what remains to be studied. Findings on differences by ethnic group and location also are presented. Although there are indications that students from rural areas differ from their urban and suburban counterparts, there has been little work that explores the impact of those differences on transfer rates. The need for further research on transfer rates and college location is also addressed.

INTENTIONS AND GOALS AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE: ASSOCIATING STUDENT PERCEPTIONS AND DEMOGRAPHICS

This article reports results of a statewide survey of student intentions administered to a sample representative of more than 87,000 community college students. This survey collected data on perceptions of goal attainment and reported intention shifts among students attending inner-city, suburban, and rural community colleges. Most respondents (79.2%) reported that their original intentions for enrolling at the community college had not changed over time. Among those who had changed their original intentions, 73.6% reported just one change. Students expressing initial career orientations shifted to more academic goals. Demographic, academic status, and institutional type variables were tested for signicant associations with perceptions of goal attainment and shifts in intention. A positive relationship was found between the number of credits completed and the number of intention shifts, and a negative relationship was found between the number of credits completed and perceptions of goal attainment. These findings may help community colleges respond to mandated performance indicator systems in which the connections between initial student intentions and outcomes measures such as persistence and graduation rates are seldom considered.

Great Expectation, Slight Contemplation – Results of a Survey of Student Attitudes on the Eve of the New Millennium

In classrooms and courses, student attitudes are as important – probably, they are more important – than the students' intelligence and their preparation for college and university studies. Peter Sacks (a nom de plume), in his devastating book Generation X Goes to College, portrays contemporary student attitudes among his journalism students at a large suburban community college in the West. Much of his account of bored, unmotivated students who expect high grades will not be news to many geoscience teachers. Still, it is dismaying. Although there is much anecdotal material among geoscience teachers about student attitudes and their performance, little has been published. The results of this study support Sacks' story of dumbing down among students, dumbeddown to the dullest perception. Apparently, what worked for good teachers in the past will not succeed with the majority of today's students.

Investigating reading disabilities using the rauding diagnostic system.

Should a measure of intelligence be replaced by a measure of listening in discrepancy definitions of reading disability? This question was answered using a newly developed diagnostic system, which is based on "rauding" theory and a causal model of reading achievement. In Study 1, diagnostic results were analyzed from 122 students in Grades 3 through 7 who took, via computer, a battery of tests called the computer Assisted Reading Diagnosis (CARD). In Study 2, 44 university students were given the CARD. In Study 3, the CARD was administered to 128 students in reading improvement classes at a suburban community college. From the results, it was concluded that the rauding diagnostic system consistently diagnoses disabilities in listening, decoding, and naming speed when they are theoretically needed to explain accuracy and rate disabilities of children and adults who are poor readers. It was recommended that (a) general intelligence, fluid intelligence, or IQ not be used to measure potential or to diagnose reading disabilities; (b) listening not be used to measure potential; (c) verbal knowledge aptitude, pronunciation aptitude, and cognitive speed aptitude be used to measure potential; and (d) the new rauding diagnostic system replace the system of diagnosing dyslexics, hyperlexics, and garden-variety poor readers.

Sore Tongues and Stiff Necks-Problem Solving Through a Grandparent Discussion/Support Group

Summary This article describes the creation and functioning of a grandparent discussion/support group which met monthly for eight years at a suburban community college in Illinois. This group was formed in response to requests from grandparents and dealt with multigenerational issues. Descriptions of the meeting format and examples of the problems and solutions that were discussed are given. Conclusions and recommendations resulting from the experience of leading this group are described.

COURSE ATTRITION: A 5‐YEAR PERSPECTIVE ON WHY STUDENTS DROP CLASSES

This article describes results of an ongoing course attrition study conducted at 1 large, suburban community college. The study was designed to determine which classes were most often dropped, reasons students cited for deciding to drop classes, and other factors that may have impacted decisions to drop. The findings that indicate factors over which the college had little control were the most frequently cited reasons for dropping classes — work conflicts and personal problems. However, factors over which the college may have some control also appeared to contribute to decisions to drop classes in a substantial number ofinstances. The impact of findings from these studies and changes in methodology and survey design over time will provide institutional researchers with helpful suggestions for implementing similar studies at their institutions.

MARKETING THE PERCEPTIONS OF A COMMUNITY COLLEGE'S POSTSECONDARY ENROLLMENT OPTIONS PROGRAM

A vast majority of colleges and universities have provisions for admitting high school students to special college programs (Robinson & Noble, 1992). These postsecondary enrollment options programs are vital because they link local higher education to the community by actively involving high school personnel, students, and parents in planning for college. Establishing and maintaining this link presents unique challenges to educators because it must meet the needs of a diverse population. The purpose of this study was to assess how students and parents perceived a suburban community colleges’ postsecondary enrollment options program. Basing marketing strategies on these perceptions provides colleges and universities an effective means to maintain the established community link.

Classroom Age Composition and Academic Achievement in College

The continuing influx of adult students in colleges and universities raises many questions for research, including how their presence affects classroom learning. We postulated that, controlling for student age, the greater the proportion of adults in a classroom the higher the aggregate average performance of the class as measured by class grades. The hypothesis was tested in two very different settings: a suburban community college and a nearby large, public research university. Data for 2,794 subjects were obtained from official records. The findings from the community college sample strongly supported the predicted relationship. At the university, a modified hypothesis that excluded performance in math classes was also supported.

Faculty Culture in the Community College: Facilitating or Hindering Learning?

This case study of a predominantly middle class, suburban community college examines the role of faculty culture in hindering or facilitating student learning. It extends our understanding of the culture of community colleges by investigating a college quite different from those that have been the focus of previous research. The author’s conclusions emphasize the need for college leaders and researchers to question how faculty culture affects learning in community colleges and to recognize the diversity of college types, faculty, and students.

Self-Reported Reasons for Students' Absenteeism at a Predominantly Black Urban University

A scale containing 51 reasons for absenteeism was given to 169 students at a predominantly black inner-city university. Means for the importance of each reason were rank-ordered and compared with the rank-order of a group of suburban community college students who had responded to the same scale in a previous study. A similar comparison was carried out by ranking the sizes of the correlations between each reason for absenteeism and the number of reported absences. Analysis confirms the external validity of the scale. Specific reasons yielding both high and low intersample discrepancies were cited and discussed along with directions for research.

The influence of classroom climate on science process and content achievement of community college students

AbstractThe effect of two specific classroom climates on learning of science process skills and content achievement in college level science classes was studied. Two classroom climates were established and designated as discovery classroom climate (DCC) and nondiscovery classroom climate (NDCC). The term discovery denotes the degree of freedom the teacher established in classroom interactions, both verbal and nonverbal. Verbal interactions were monitored with the Science Laboratory Interaction Categories. These data indicate that students in the two classroom climates achieved equally as well on learning of biological content of the course, but students in the discovery classroom climate achieved significantly higher scores in science process skills as measured by the Welch Science Process Inventory. This study, conducted in a large, suburban community college, offers some useful information to the person who has educational goals beyond, but including, the learning of science information and concepts, and possibly science process. Students in the less directive discovery climate learned as much content as those in a more directive comparison class‐they lost nothing of what is traditionally sought in a college science class. In addition, the discovery climate facilitated the development of science process skills which were significantly better than the comparison class. A five‐week intensive class using the discovery climate was found to provide as much content acquisition as the ten‐week nondiscovery climate.