Community college enrollment plunges nearly 40 percent in a decade

[ThatRobGuy]

Community college enrollment plunges nearly 40 percent in a decade

Community college enrollment has plummeted by nearly two-fifths since 2010, a staggering decline in a sector with the potential to offer the greatest value in American higher education. Enrol…

thehill.com

The exodus signals a national crisis of confidence in the community college, a symbol of upward mobility for generations of Americans, delivering marketable associate degrees to some graduates and, to others, the first half of a four-year college degree.

In a sector known for $75,000-a-year tuition, nothing rivals the price point of community college. An average in-state student at a public two-year college pays $3,860 a year, according to College Board data, compared to $10,940 at a public university and $39,400 at a private four-year college.

“We haven’t raised tuition in 10 years,” said Madeline Pumariega, president of Miami Dade. “Of the 122,000 students we serve, less than 2 percent take on any debt, and when they do, it’s an average of $5,000.”

Community colleges have always had a reputation as an affordable degree for students in unique circumstances who might not be able to swing a four-year institution but still want a good-paying job, positions that often require at least some higher education in the modern market.



I think this raises several questions about college in the US.

To list a few:
1) Why are so many potential students more drawn to the more expensive colleges?

2) Given the fact that fewer than 2% take on any debt (and for the ones who do, it's only $5k), and given that the credits are transferrable to 4-year institutions (if that's the route someone wants to go), shouldn't there be more emphasis on encouraging people to utilize these institutions before advocating for blanket studently loan debt forgiveness proposals?


I know part of the answer to #1 (which is the desire to go somewhere viewed as "prestigious" or somewhere that has a reputation for a certain thing, like "I want to go to Duke because they're known for having a great basketball team" or "I want to go to Berkeley, because it's a very progressive environment")...but I'd like to be optimistic and think that the next generation of people are smarter than going the route of using college purely as a means of "finding themselves", and actually have a realistic plan of some sort.

 

[jacks]

Colleges as a whole are seeing declining enrollments, though CC colleges are taking the greatest hit. There may be many reasons for this, but colleges not being sure of their roles in todays world, could be one of them. First if you just want to learn something (a large portion of the CC students) you can do so free on-line. Why pay any tuition at all for an on-line class at any college, if you can get the same information for free? My niece for example just got a 4 year degree in Urban Development from a state college and never had to attend class even once. So if the only advantage the college is offering is a degree or certificate saying you completed something, they could very well just turn into testing centers. That is, "We don't care how you learned it, just take this test and prove it. We will then grant you a degree." This of course would put many people who work for the college, out of work and politically education is a very powerful sacred cow. Finally people are beginning to wonder about the worth of the degree in any case. My nephew had a masters in Journalism and worked as a waiter. Colleges like any business need to take a hard look at their marketing models. They are no longer the only game in town.

 

[Pommer]

Nobody wants learnin’?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Nobody wants learnin’?

"learnin'" is fine...it's a matter of "what learnin' is takin' place" and does that "learnin'" translate to something that would be usable in the job market.

I hinted at it my original post, but the days of using college to "find yourself" or because "it's the thing you do to have fun for 4 years after high school" aren't necessarily feasible when you consider the price tag attached to it nowadays.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

My nephew had a masters in Journalism and worked as a waiter.

That's an increasingly more common outcome for people who pursued certain majors.

We have a disproportionate number of kids pursuing degrees in Journalism and Visual and Performing Arts.

Bachelor's degrees conferred by postsecondary institutions, by field of study: Selected years, 1970-71 through 2017-18

The primary purpose of the Digest of Education Statistics is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest includes a selection of data from many sources, both government and private...

nces.ed.gov

...despite the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that there aren't even remotely that number of job openings per year in those fields.


I was a fan of the proposal that was made by a few lawmakers, that colleges themselves had to assume the risk when talking kids into signing on for things that were a long shot

With Biden's student loan debt forgiveness in limbo, lawmakers consider colleges' role

At a hearing meant to poke holes in the Biden administration's mass debt relief plan, both Republicans and Democrats agreed schools should have more skin in the game.

www.usatoday.com