Dive Brief:
- More community colleges are adding dorms as a way to improve student engagement, retention, and graduation rates, according to U.S. News & World Report.
- The American Association of Community Colleges reports that some 25% of two-year colleges in the U.S. now provide on-campus housing for students, and around 43 schools added dorms between 2000 and 2010.
- Recent dorm projects include new construction underway at Oklahoma's Rose State College in September; a new residence hall for Jefferson Community College in Watertown, NY, opened last year; and a new dorm opening at Northhampton Community College in Pennsylvania this year.
Dive Insight:
As the lines between traditional community colleges and four-year high education institutions become more blurred, dorms could help two-year schools offer more of the so-called traditional college experience. But on-campus residences cost money — $3,600 and $2,500 per semester at two colleges cited by U.S. News & World Report—which plays against the community college’s role as the bare-bones, lowest-cost-possible path to a two-year degree, or to two-years’ worth of credits to transfer to a four-year school. Also, most dorms aren’t designed for the non-traditional adult learners with families that community colleges cater to.