برچسب: degree

  • Colleges overlook the potential of students who didn’t finish their degree, study says

    Colleges overlook the potential of students who didn’t finish their degree, study says


    Shasta College serves students in Shasta, Tehama and Trinity counties.

    A new study detailing how California colleges often overlook the value of students who drop out explains what colleges can do to help these students, called “comebackers,” complete their degree successfully. 

    Instead of simplifying the return for these students, colleges often complicate the process and create obstacles, according to a report, “From Setback to Success: Meeting Comebacker Students Where They Are” by California Competes, a nonpartisan policy and research organization.

    “If you didn’t make it, it’s your fault. If you want to come back, good luck to you,” said Su Jin Jez, CEO of California Competes, about the convoluted process that comebackers go through to re-enroll in college.

    Based on interviews with over 50 students who returned to college and successfully completed their degree at Sacramento State and Shasta College, the report released on Feb. 5 identified factors that may impede a student’s attempt to return to college, including owing for overdue library books and parking, having to redo the entire enrollment process and being disqualified for financial aid because of poor grades from years prior. 

    More than 6 million Californians have attended college without ever receiving a degree, according to a 2021 report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Jez said that reaching out to these students is an equity issue because many comebackers are low-income people or people of color. 

    Overlooking these students has major implications, not just for students themselves but for the state’s economy, the report states. Students without a degree or certificate may not be able to make progress in the workplace, and in turn, employers won’t be able to find qualified workers. Jez said reaching these students can stimulate economic growth.

    Jennifer Liberty, one of the co-researchers who helped design the study, is a comebacker herself; she is now working on a master’s degree in psychology.

    Other reasons contributing to students dropping out of college are having to work, taking care of children or family members, as well as institutional barriers like a loss of financial aid or an inflexible schedule — all of which may make balancing school with other priorities a struggle.

    Comebackers bring ‘so many skills’

    The report urges colleges to offer more flexibility in classes, do more to encourage students to return and reframe how comebackers are viewed.

    The conversation about students who stop attending college tends to be framed around their problems, said Buffy Tanner, director of innovation and special projects at Shasta College. They are discussed as students who lack recent academic experience, who have rusty math skills or have financial aid issues.

    “The reality is they come to us with so many skills,” Tanner said during a webinar on the report.

    People who stop coming to school typically have a lot of work experience that other kinds of students lack. They know how to work in groups and how to work for different bosses; they have professional experience; and sometimes professional development. These are all assets in college, Tanner said.

    Many comebackers may give up their studies after their grades start to slip and they are put on what is often called “academic probation.” The report recommends using language that isn’t associated with criminality. 

    “‘Academic probation’ sounds like, ‘You are a criminal, and we are going to keep an eye on you,’” Jez said.

    The report also recommends offering extra support to comebackers who struggle academically. Many of those who left on academic probation said that they were not offered help and that the term itself made them feel like they weren’t cut out for college. 

    Tanner said focusing on the needs of students who return to college after stopping has benefits for the broader population of students because they would also benefit from more flexible class schedules, such as classes that are offered outside the traditional workday. 

    Restructured academic calendars could also benefit other kinds of students. The report recommends offering shorter, more frequent classes, such as an eight-week intensive program, in contrast to a longer 16-week program, or a fall or spring term. This makes it easier for students to fit classes into their schedule and gives them more opportunities to jump into college.

    Enrollment at California’s community colleges has not fully rebounded from the pandemic, Jez noted. This pool of students with some college experience but no degree or certificate is potent as the state faces its big goals around issues such as climate change and housing.

    “We can’t meet our goals,” Jez said, “unless we allow marginalized people to access and complete college degrees.”





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  • California Community Colleges approves 6 new bachelor’s degree programs

    California Community Colleges approves 6 new bachelor’s degree programs


    Dental hygiene program at Fresno College.

    Credit: Fresno City College

    Six additional bachelor’s degree programs have been approved across California’s community colleges, the state chancellor’s office for the college system announced. 

    With the approvals, there are now 39 bachelor’s degree programs that are being offered or will soon be offered across the community college system. 

    The latest programs to be approved include respiratory care at Antelope Valley College, paramedicine at College of the Siskiyous, dental hygiene at both Cypress College and Oxnard College, paralegal studies at Santa Ana College and respiratory care therapist at Victor Valley College.

     “Through the Baccalaureate Degree Program we are broadening the reach of higher education and skill development to a greater number of students by offering affordable and quality opportunities close to home,” Aisha Lowe, an executive vice chancellor for the college system, said in a statement.

    There are now 32 different community colleges across the state with at least one bachelor’s degree program. A few colleges have multiple offerings, including Antelope Valley, Cypress and Santa Ana with their latest approvals.

    The number of bachelor’s degrees being offered across the community colleges will likely continue to increase. In January, colleges submitted another 13 program applications that are currently under review. 

    Under a 2021 state law, the community college system can approve up to 30 bachelor’s degrees annually, across two cycles each year. The degrees are all offered in high-demand career fields such as dental hygiene and automotive education. 

    By offering those degrees at the community college level, students can earn a bachelor’s degree for a fraction of what it costs to get one at a four-year university. In some cases, the degrees are also more accessible, since there are some community colleges offering them in parts of the state where there isn’t a University of California or California State University campus.

    To get approved, the programs must first go through intersegmental review, a process in which the California State University and the University of California systems get to say whether they object to the degrees. Under state law, the programs can’t duplicate programs that are offered at UC or CSU.

    That has been a point of contention, particularly with CSU, which has raised duplication concerns about several programs that community colleges have proposed, something that has delayed the approval process. Currently, 11 programs remain under intersegmental review.

    Community college officials say they are working with CSU officials to establish a better process for resolving those disputes more quickly in the future.

    Because the community colleges can’t create bachelor’s degree programs that are already available at CSU and UC, they have been prevented from offering degrees in some fields with worker shortages, such as nursing. Newly proposed legislation aims to change that: Senate Bill 895 would allow 15 community colleges to begin offering bachelor’s degrees in nursing.





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  • How earning a college degree put four California men on a path from prison to new lives | Documentary 

    How earning a college degree put four California men on a path from prison to new lives | Documentary 


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypfojKZMnGQ

    Samual N. Brown, Allen Burnett, Charlie Praphatananda and Dara Yin have stories to tell.

    Their time in prison was shrouded by their reality. Three of the four were charged with murder and sentenced to life without parole. It’s what one of them, who entered prison at 20, describes as death by incarceration.

    Taking college courses had been going on for decades in California prisons, but in 2016, California State University Los Angeles became the first college to offer bachelor’s degrees to people in prison.

    Now, eight of the state’s 34 adult prisons have started or are soon to begin partnerships that award four-year degrees, making California a leader in expanding college degree programs into the state’s prisons.

    The trend touches only a sliver of incarcerated people, however. While California incarcerates about 95,600 people in its prison system, about 230 enrolled in the fall in a bachelor’s degree program. For the four men whose stories are told in this documentary, just the chance to earn the degree made it possible for them to see themselves living a different life outside of prison. Three ultimately got their sentences commuted. The fourth was paroled.

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  • Myths hold back community college bachelor’s degree programs

    Myths hold back community college bachelor’s degree programs


    Los Angeles City College

    Credit: Larry Gordon / EdSource

    Community college bachelor’s degree programs can provide a concrete pathway to socioeconomic mobility, while helping achieve the dream of completing a bachelor’s degree for students who have not been served by any other public college sector, especially among populations who are historically underserved.

    Nationwide, 187 community colleges in 24 states are now authorized to offer at least one bachelor’s degree program. It has been nearly a decade since 15 California community colleges first offered a bachelor’s degree program, and there are now at least 38 California community colleges that can do so. A survey of students participating in California’s pilot program found that more than half would not have pursued a bachelor’s degree had it not been offered at their community college.  

    Given that these programs can improve access to bachelor’s degree programs and jobs, it is frustrating that the programs are not more widely available across the state’s 116 community college campuses, which are closer to home for far more of the state’s students than either a UC or CSU campus. 

    Unfortunately, community colleges have historically had a complicated standing within the higher education ecosystem, and their bachelor’s degree programs have been held back by stigma, suspicion and scrutiny.

    Stigma is palpable in references to community colleges as “junior” or “lower-tier” colleges, despite California authorizing them to provide bachelor’s degrees nearly a decade ago. Suspicion is evident in claims that community colleges are not cooperating with other entities, despite California’s policies that give universities the power to delay and even prevent community colleges from offering bachelor’s degrees. Scrutiny refers to the numbers of hoops that community colleges must jump through, especially with bachelor’s degree program approval.  

    But California’s community colleges are an important feature of the higher education landscape. Serving nearly 2 million students annually, it is the largest higher education system in the country. Despite evidence of their success in providing a concrete pathway to jobs and socioeconomic mobility, community college bachelor’s degree programs continue to face many roadblocks that do not center students’ and communities’ best interest at heart.

    Let’s address common myths about community college bachelor’s degree programs:

    Myth 1: These programs duplicate existing academic programs and steal students from colleges.

    RealityBy 2030, there is a projected state shortage of 1.1 million bachelor’s degrees. Community college bachelor’s degree programs are one solution to this supply problem. Research shows California’s community college bachelor’s degree programs provide a pathway to bachelor’s degrees for people who likely would not have had it otherwise. They especially benefit older students — 77% of community college bachelor’s degree program students are 25 or older, compared with just 23% at California State University (CSU). There is no concrete evidence, to our knowledge, that shows that community college bachelor’s degree programs are “stealing” students from other public education segments in California. Research in Florida shows no decline in regional public university enrollment when community colleges offered a bachelor’s degree.

    Myth 2: Community colleges lack quality and produce poor outcomes. 

    Reality: There have been lots of positive outcomes relating to California’s community college bachelor’s degree programs. Once students begin upper-division coursework, 67% graduate within two years and 76% within three years. Nationally, the majority of graduates of community college bachelor’s degree programs are Latino students. In California, distance from a CSU or UC campus can stymie a community college student’s ability to transfer to complete their degree. California’s community colleges play a vital role in providing college and bachelor’s degree access. They also undergo rigorous accreditation to maintain high quality. For example, West Los Angeles College’s dental hygiene program purports a 100% licensing examination pass rate among graduates

    Myth 3: It is easy for community college bachelor’s degree programs to get approved.

    Reality: Current policies create unique hurdles for community colleges that want to offer bachelor’s degrees. While California’s process of approving community college bachelor’s degree programs is similar to other states in some ways, it is unique in terms of the power that the CSU and University of California (UC) systems have to delay or prevent them from happening at all. For example, when Feather River College attempted to offer a bachelor’s degree in applied fire management, Cal Poly Humboldt — a college 270 miles away — objected to the program, citing duplication despite the fact that the fire program at Humboldt did not even exist yet.

    It is easy to get caught up in preconceived myths about community colleges. But the reality is that community colleges are beneficial for students, and, by offering bachelor’s degrees, they can support the economic mobility of more students.

    As California faces growing demand for bachelor’s degree holders, these programs offer a practical solution that deserves recognition and support rather than continued stigma, suspicion and scrutiny. Given their success, policymakers should strengthen and support these programs, allowing them to grow alongside other college options in California.

    •••

    Cecilia Rios-Aguilar is professor of education and department chair at the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA.

    Debra D. Bragg is president of Bragg & Associates and endowed professor emerita of higher education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

    Elizabeth Meza is a senior research scientist at the University of Washington and a New America Education Policy Program Fellow for Community Colleges.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the authors. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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