The California community college system is at a turning point. A recent study from the Public Policy Institute of California found that as a result of budget cuts, enrollment levels in California community colleges are at a 20-year low, while class sizes and tuition levels are close to, if not at, all-time highs.
The study’s conclusions have some serious implications. After $1.5 billion in cuts in the last six years, qualified students are being barred from taking classes because the community college system cannot support itself financially.
To be sure, falling enrollment rates demand attention, but new sources of funding like those coming from Proposition 30, if well-placed, could provide the support these colleges need to reverse these downward trends and reinvigorate enrollment.
One of the best ways community colleges can do that is by implementing structural changes to provide increased academic support, expanding counseling resources and putting in place concrete academic plans to ensure students are able to transfer to four-year institutions in the University of California and California State University systems in a timely manner.
While increasing availability of courses may be the most obvious short-term solution for many community colleges, building up a system of academic support is a worthwhile long-term solution that needs to be seriously and immediately considered.
Increasing counseling resources and requiring students to create and adhere to academic plans are paramount to the success of community college students, and should be required directives for California’s community colleges.
The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office published a study in which it emphasized the importance of academic planning and support for students in community colleges.
The report states that only 41 percent of California community college students seeking to transfer to a four-year institution are successful.
Robert Rovner, a fourth-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student who attended Diablo Valley College in Northern California before transferring to UCLA, said that it was always difficult to get a counseling appointment at his community college, and when an appointment was secured, the counselors often simply deferred him to a website with general resources for community college students.
Rovner said that additional resources would have been helpful in trying to transfer to a four-year college, citing peers at Diablo Valley College who he said could have benefited from more hands-on assistance through the transfer process.
Services like these can be invaluable to the success of community college students moving between all three California higher education systems.
For this reason, it’s one of the most important improvements that needs to be implemented, with the best interests of both community college students and the university systems they’ll be transferring to in mind.
“Better counseling and academic planning would help students see the range of options they can take to finance their education. Even if enrollments decrease, we’ll see an increase in the long run of students transferring to four-year degree institutions,” said Mitchell Chang, a professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
For the UC, the benefits of higher community college enrollment are clear. Maximizing the number of potential transfer applicants will ensure that the most qualified students are admitted, who will in turn enrich the communities at these institutions.
The UC, while not directly responsible for the performance of community colleges, should be especially aware of the issues surrounding them. Unfortunately, the UC Office of the President does not have any specific programs or initiatives collaborating with community colleges.
As transfer students form an important portion of student body, at the very least, the university should seek to assist the community college system in ensuring the success of its students.
Starting with the carefully planned use of Proposition 30 funds, California community colleges should seek to reinvest in counseling services so they may raise their standards efficiently and uniformly to better allow current and future community college students every opportunity available to matriculate on time and with a valuable degree.
Email Powell at bpowell@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to opinion@media.ucla.edu or tweet us @DBOpinion.