Dive Brief:
- A new report examining minority-serving community colleges finds these institutions serve a high-need population with lower per-student expenditures on student services and academic support.
- The report finds that 51% of Latino students who graduate from four-year institutions with STEM degrees started at community colleges and the same is true for 44% of American Indian/Alaska Native, 44% of black, and 40% of Asian/Pacific Islander students, eCampusNews reports.
- The report urges more research on programs and the ability of minority-serving institutions to close achievement gaps, as well as the role federal and state funding could play in that goal.
Dive Insight:
The proportion of students starting their educational journeys at community colleges is getting significant attention with recent data releases, including a National Clearinghouse report that also showed nearly half of all students attend community college at some point before graduating with a bachelor’s degree. The report profiled by eCampus News comes from the Center for Minority Serving Institutions, the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, and the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment. It is meant to be a first step in investigating whether President Barack Obama’s free community college proposal adequately accounts for the needs of minority-serving institutions.