Community colleges play a vital role in preparing students for work without burdening them with high tuition costs found at four-year institutions. However, many students struggle to complete their programs. In a time where opportunity hinges on education, community colleges must offer students extra support to help them succeed.
Take a closer look at the importance of community colleges and what’s holding students back from success in this guide. You’ll also learn how to define, measure, and improve student access at your institution.
Why students choose community college
Students from various backgrounds attend community college to give themselves a better future. Many of them make the decision because community colleges offer:
Training for payable skills
Community colleges typically focus on providing career-oriented programs to prepare students to transfer to a four-year institution or enter the workforce. They provide program skills and academic knowledge that enable graduates to accept career positions or lay a foundation for their higher education.
Education at a lower cost
The low cost of community college makes higher education more affordable for those with low-income families. After two years, graduates can obtain an associate’s degree that exemplifies their satisfactory work. An associate’s degree also enables them to transfer to other colleges or universities with higher education credits under their belts but without massive student debt.
An inclusive environment
Community colleges also cater to a broader pool of students. Although students of any age, gender, race, and background can attend four-year institutions, community colleges are an excellent guided pathway for those in different stages of life. Military veterans, single parents, immigrants, and nontraditional students are more likely to see community colleges meeting their educational needs.
The growing focus on college completion
Education is even more important today for succeeding in the job market. College education gives students the training they need to join their desired careers and make a positive impact on their communities. With new skills, students have a higher chance of finding a job and feeling greater career satisfaction. They receive higher pay, too.
In 2023, graduates with an associate’s degree made just over $159 more per week than those with a high school diploma, and bachelor’s degree holders made over $597 more than those without higher education. With such impressive benefits, it’s no wonder there is a growing focus on college completion.
However, despite the economic and career growth graduates can see, many institutions face low retention numbers from students dropping out or transferring to another institution. About 23 percent of first-year students drop out within one year, and almost 40 percent of undergraduate students don’t complete their program within eight years. Lower retention rates can impact an institution’s ability to attract students and receive funding.
What is holding students back from completing their studies?
Obtaining a college degree is challenging for many students as they face new obstacles. Various factors can inhibit student success, both on and off campus. Addressing these concerns will take time but can positively impact your students and institution in the long run.
Common barriers students face include:
- Lack of structure: A lack of structure could be a significant barrier for students to overcome. With room to deviate from the path to graduation, it can be easy to fall off track and become unmotivated to catch up to speed. Additionally, giving too many options can be overwhelming and lead students to make decisions that do not benefit their academic careers. Simplifying transfer and program structures could ease student concerns and help them stay on track.
- Mental health conditions: Students facing anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions may struggle to meet college expectations. Without the proper health resources and support, they may have to drop out to focus on their mental health.
- Institutional costs: Student loans and tuition costs have long been barriers for higher education students. Students without sufficient financial aid or the ability to recover the cost of their education may determine that the instruction is not worth the time, money, or effort.
- Lack of preparation: Many students are graduating high school without adequate preparation for the demands of higher education. Some students lack proper study skills. Others may struggle to handle an increased workload. Some students may even have to take additional non-credit remedial classes to make up for knowledge gaps or academic and developmental losses.
- Inadequate family support: Family engagement positively affects student success, but only some students have a support system offering resources, advice, and encouragement. Students who feel a lack of support may refrain from putting their best foot forward toward their education.
How community colleges can define student success
Student success is a measure of positive student outcomes. It often refers to graduation or program completion, as this is the main goal for both students and institutions. However, there are many other ways to define student success in community college. What one institution considers success may look different to another. How you define student success depends on your institution’s goals and student needs.
Metrics that offer a better reflection of student success include:
- Academic achievement: Some institutions define student success based on academic achievement, like grade point average (GPA). Grades are a quantifiable way to measure how well a student is doing in their studies. They also indicate the effectiveness of your institution’s teaching, resources, and support.
- Campus engagement: Community colleges can look at engagement levels to define student success. How much students actively participate in campus life can indicate their interest, passion, and optimism. Student attitudes and engagement levels can help your institution predict student outcomes like retention and graduation.
- Employment outcomes: Another way to define student success is by analyzing the employment outcomes for students who attend your institution. If your college adequately prepares students to enter the workforce, they’ll find it easier to get a job after graduation. You may also consider how often students land internships during their studies.
- Personal growth: Success also comes in the form of the skills students develop. After completing their program, students at your institution should have new skills that help them achieve their goals, whether they’re hard or soft skills. Hard skills like coding or writing can find them a job, while soft skills like critical thinking and problem-solving set them up for success in all aspects of life.
- Student satisfaction: A student’s feelings and attitudes toward their educational institution indicate whether they enjoy their experience and see value in their studies. Studies show there is a link between high satisfaction and positive outcomes, like academic performance and persistence. Student satisfaction can be a helpful way to indirectly measure success.
How community colleges can measure student success
After defining student success, you can begin to measure it at your institution. Measuring student success involves collecting and analyzing data so you can see how well students achieve positive outcomes. You can also identify any barriers that impede success and work to eliminate them. The more information you have to work with, the better equipped you’ll be to drive change at your institution.
You can measure student success through:
- Course evaluations
- Student self-assessments
- Attendance at campus events
- Activity in learning communities
- Job placement rates
- Course registration activity
- Commuter benefits program enrollment
- College-readiness course participation
- Dedication to mentorship programs
- Interest in advising practices
How community colleges can improve student success
Once you’ve identified areas that are potentially holding students back from succeeding, you can decide how to best support them. If you’re not sure how, try one of the following approaches:
1. Offer a student success course
Student success courses help students hone personal and academic skills required for degree completion. These courses can better prepare students for the educational environment and increase the likelihood of graduation. Students not equipped for the rigor of collegiate-level classes can benefit from an introductory course that will familiarize them with the institution’s expectations and resources. This way, when they discover new barriers, they may be better equipped to overcome them.
2. Provide registration assistance
Registration can be confusing for students, especially if they have an unclear graduation path. Students often need clarification about which courses they need to take to meet completion requirements. They may also need help understanding the importance of taking a prerequisite course or an introductory-level class that provides a foundation for other learning materials. Without guidance, students take courses they don’t need and may struggle to complete their studies.
You can combat this by providing registration assistance. Developing a registration office can give students somewhere to go when they need help building their schedules. The registration assistance process also identifies risk indicators such as holds, late fees, midterm grades, residential status, GPA, and undecided majors. When you pinpoint these indicators, you can take action to bring students back on track at a pivotal time in their education, ensuring that they complete their programs.
3. Help students make connections
A student’s first year on campus is the most critical for their academic journey. During this time, students refine their ideas about higher education, face new challenges, meet new groups of peers and friends, and leave behind their high school and family support systems. Their experience in this first year sets the tone for the rest of their time at your institution.
Students who arrive at your institution feeling support and belonging are more likely to succeed. Offering first-year seminar classes, developing clubs, and fostering well-being and belonging on campus can help these students better face the challenges ahead. Encouraging students to make connections can also help them focus on their academics while having more positive feelings about your institution.
4. Ensure adequate academic planning
Academic planning is the process of guiding students through their education journey, giving them a roadmap to success. It’s more encompassing than tutoring or writing center services, although these could also boost student success. Academic planning involves developing clear program roadmaps, offering personalized advising, and instructing students on the planning process.
Through academic planning, students receive tools that help them:
- Overcome financial hardships.
- Develop leadership opportunities.
- Gain career development.
- Hone study skills.
- Build a resume.
- Make connections on campus.
- Craft a graduation pathway.
- Find mental health services.
5. Use early and cumulative assessments
Early assessments can be a great way to monitor student progress. When you administer self-assessments, surveys, and evaluations early in a student’s academic career, you can better gauge the support students need. Additionally, you can administer cumulative assessments throughout the year to gauge whether students are falling behind. Cumulative assessments cover current and previous content to better evaluate student comprehension and learning.
6. Develop a mentor program
Mentors serve as a helping hand, offering valuable academic, professional, and personal advice. Your students could benefit from a mentorship program that connects them with professionals who currently work or have experience in their desired career field or industry. Faculty members, alumni, and senior students can serve as excellent mentors for new students.
As new students navigate your institution, they can turn to their trusted mentor when they need guidance. Along with allowing for better access to industry secrets, campus resources, and a support system, many mentor relationships become lifelong friendships. Mentorship success coaching can motivate students to perform better and enable you to create more holistic experiences for every student.
Discover how to improve community college student success with Watermark
At Watermark, we’re dedicated to equipping higher education institutions with unique solutions that boost student success and prepare learners for a lifetime of productivity and learning.
Watermark Student Success & Engagement is an all-encompassing software solution your institution can use to monitor and track student progress and identify pain points in your curriculum, campus culture, and experiences. With our software, you can create holistic guided pathways for each student and take advantage of intuitive, advanced reporting. You can easily identify at-risk students and connect with them during their critical periods to bring them back on track.
With Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys, you can also measure student success in the classroom. The software makes it easy to gather and use your student’s direct feedback to uncover new ways to design programs and structure curricula to meet their needs.
Request a demo of Watermark solutions to bring innovation to your institution and better define, measure, and improve student success on campus.
