Community Colleges Special Supplement to the Condition of Education 2008
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Community Colleges Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2008 NCES 2008-033 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Community Colleges Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2008 Statistical Analysis Report August 2008 Stephen Provasnik Michael Planty National Center for Education Statistics NCES 2008-033 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION U.S. Department of Education Margaret Spellings Secretary Institute of Education Sciences Grover J. Whitehurst Director National Center for Education Statistics Mark Schneider Commissioner Te National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. It fulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report full and complete statistics on the condition of education in the United States; conduct and publish reports and specialized analyses of the meaning and significance of such statistics; assist state and local education agencies in improving their statistical systems; and review and report on education activities in foreign countries. NCES activities are designed to address high-priority education data needs; provide consistent, reliable, complete, and accurate indicators of education status and trends; and report timely, useful, and high-quality data to the U.S. Department of Education, the Congress, the states, other education policymakers, practitioners, data users, and the general public. Unless specifically noted all infor- mation contained herein is in the public domain. We strive to make our products available in a variety of formats and in language that is appropriate to a variety of audiences. You, as our customer, are the best judge of our success in communicating information effectively. If you have any comments or suggestions about this or any other NCES product or report, we would like to hear from you. Please direct your comments to National Center for Education Statistics Institute of Education Sciences U.S. Department of Education 1990 K Street NW Washington, DC 20006-5651 August 2008 Te NCES World Wide Web Home Page address is http://nces.ed.gov. Te NCES World Wide Web Electronic Catalog is http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch. Suggested Citation Provasnik, S., and Planty, M. (2008). Community Colleges: Special Supplement to Te Condition of Education 2008 (NCES 2008-033). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC. For ordering information on this report, write to U.S. Department of Education ED Pubs P.O. Box 1398 Jessup, MD 20794-1398 or call toll free 1-877-4ED-PUBS or order online at http://www.edpubs.org. Content Contact Michael Planty (202) 502-7312 [email protected] Community Colleges Executive Summary The Condition of Education summarizes im- High school seniors who enrolled portant developments and trends in education immediately in community colleges in using the latest available data. The report, 2004 spanned a broad range of academic which is required by law, is an indicator report achievement—including students who intended for a general audience of readers who were well-prepared for college in terms of are interested in education. The indicators rep- their performance on standardized tests resent a consensus of professional judgment on and coursework completed. They included the most significant national measures of the a greater percentage of well-prepared condition and progress of education for which seniors than did the 1992 senior cohort. accurate data are available. For the 2008 edi- tion, a special analysis was prepared to take a About two-thirds of 2004 seniors who closer look at community colleges. enrolled immediately in a community college seem to have done so with the intention of Drawing upon a wide range of data sources pursuing a bachelor’s degree or higher: as collected by the National Center for Education high school seniors, 28 percent had planned Statistics (NCES), the 2008 special analysis to use a community college as a stepping provides a descriptive profile of community stone to a bachelor’s degree and 39 percent colleges in the United States, examines the revised their original plans to attend a characteristics of community college students 4-year college and earn a bachelor’s degree who entered directly from high school, and by starting their postsecondary education looks at rates of postsecondary persistence and at a community college. attainment among community college students in general. It also compares the characteristics One-third of 2004 seniors who enrolled of these institutions and of the students who immediately in a community college did enroll in them with those of public and private so with no intention of pursuing any 4-year colleges and universities. Selected fi nd- education higher than an associate’s ings include: degree; however, by 2006, almost 47 percent of this group had raised their In 2006–07, there were 1,045 community educational expectations to start or colleges in the United States, enrolling complete a bachelor’s degree. 6.2 million students (or 35 percent of all postsecondary students enrolled that The percentage of students who had left year). school by 2006 without completing a degree or certificate program was higher Average annual community college tuition among 2003–04 community college and fees are less than half those at public freshmen who intended to transfer to a 4-year colleges and universities and one- 4-year college than among all 2003–04 tenth those at private 4-year colleges and freshmen at public 4-year and private universities. not-for-profi t 4-year institutions. Community colleges enroll a diverse Technical notes about the data sources, meth- group of students, with various reasons odology, and standard errors are included at for going to college, and have larger the end of this report. Special analyses are percentages of nontraditional, low- available both as booklets and on the NCES income, and minority students than Condition of Education website (http://nces. 4-year colleges and universities. ed.gov/programs/coe). Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2008 | Page iii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Contents Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures and Exhibit..........................................................................................................viii Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 Section 1. Institutional Characteristics ........................................................................................ 2 Number, Size, and Location ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Enrollment Patterns .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 State Community College Systems .................................................................................................................................... 5 Degrees Conferred ............................................................................................................................................................. 6 Tuition and Fees ................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Faculty .............................................................................................................................................................................. 8 Admission Criteria ........................................................................................................................................................... 10 Remedial Education ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 Section 2. Student Characteristics ............................................................................................ 12 Part A. Students Who Enroll in Community Colleges Immediately After High School .................................................... 13 Immediate College Enrollment After High School ................................................................................................................ 14 Which Seniors Attend Community Colleges Right After High School? ............................................................................... 14 Background characteristics and immediate enrollment ...................................................................................................... 14 Student achievement and immediate enrollment .............................................................................................................. 16 Students’ immediate educational plans, future educational expectations, and immediate enrollment ...................................19 Part B. Community College Students’ Short-Term Persistence or Attainment Rate .......................................................