Redeeming the Promise of CUNY’s Community Colleges

A few weeks ago, the City University of New York (CUNY) announced its intention to raise admission standards at its senior – four year – colleges. The move is a response to complaints from some professors that too many incoming students are ill-prepared for college level course work. Students who do not meet the new standards – or who are in need of remedial courses to meet those standards – can enroll in one of CUNY’s six community colleges.

I am in favor of increasing standards at CUNY. But this move cannot be made without addressing the fact that the overwhelming majority of students in CUNY’s community colleges drop out before getting a degree or moving on to a senior college.

The community colleges are unfairly viewed by some as a dumping ground for students taking remedial courses. Community college students should be getting a lot more support, ranging from financial aid to social services focusing on individuals.

Dropout Rates

The failure rate is reflected nationwide: the national average of community college students graduating within three years is 24.7 percent. The New York State Education Department’s Office of Higher Education reports that – in 2005 – 8.6 percent of Black and 8.1 percent of Latino full-time CUNY community college students graduated within three years. No doubt, some students transferred to a senior college. But this is still a very low graduation rate.

CUNY is the nation’s largest urban public university. It is the main conduit to a higher education for many of the city’s Black and Latino youth. Of the nearly 70,000 undergraduates enrolled in the six community colleges, about 60 percent are Black and Latino students.

Failure at the community college level not only crushes the hopes and aspirations of many students of color from low-income families; it contributes to a more segregated society at a time when a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court believes that it is illegal for school districts to consider race in order to achieve racial diversity.

The dropout rate has other consequences beyond the inability of some students to move from community college to a senior college. It is directly connected to the high levels of poverty and unemployment found in New York City’s communities of color. Nearly 40 percent of the city’s residents - many people of color - live near or below the federal poverty level.

Several reports issued by the Community Service Society have documented the chronic joblessness of Black men in New York City – from about 40 percent to more than 48 percent were without jobs over the past several years. Both the extent of poverty and joblessness can be traced directly to a failed educational system.

Not Prepared for College

The ultimate onus for the community college dropout rate is on our public school system, where slightly more than half of incoming high school students graduate. Many of those who drop out experience problems in the early grades. By the time they enter high school they are already alienated from the system. Less than 10 percent of Black and Latino students earn a Regents diploma, indicative of academic achievement. This means that most high school graduates are not being prepared for college.

In 1999, when initial higher standards were phased in at CUNY, the plan was for CUNY to work with the city’s high schools to ensure that their graduates were better prepared for college. The results have not been good. For example, the proportion of Black students at the top five senior colleges has fallen from 20 percent in 1999 to 14 percent currently.

There has been some movement to help students stay in school. The city recently announced that it will spend $20 million over the next three years to increase graduation rates at the community colleges. Financing will come from a grant from the Commission for Economic Opportunity, which presented a number of different ways to reduce poverty in New York City. The goal of the program is for 50 percent of the participants to graduate and find a job within three years. Still, the program initially targets only 1,000 low-income students in a student population of over 68,000.

This is just a modest beginning. What is needed is equitable access to resources for students in the system’s community colleges.

Students need
more support

A large number of students enrolled in community colleges are working. Many are older than the average college student and have families to support. Since these students are employed – usually in low-wage, dead-end jobs - they are often not eligible for student loans or other financial assistance, making it more likely that they will be forced to drop out of college and concentrate on work. The loan policies of the colleges and the state’s Tuition Assistance Program should reflect this reality.

With economic, racial, and class barriers to elite universities increasing, the health of the City University is more important than ever. CUNY is crucial to the ability of low-income students to achieve an adequate education, one that connects them to gainful employment. But the CUNY system cannot be successful – and fulfill its mandate – unless its community colleges are successful.

One purpose of community colleges should be to prepare students for four-year colleges. Another is to prepare students for work. To do so, we need to ensure that community colleges are linked to industries with jobs available; the curriculum provides the skills these industries demand; and students are able to succeed in this environment.

All too often, when discussing CUNY, the community colleges are an afterthought. This must change. Too many New Yorkers depend on these institutions to provide them with an opportunity for a decent education and a better life.

From the New York Amsterdam News
August 9 - 15, 2007