Student Enrollment and Characteristics** Additional Enrollment Information** Community college students bring a mix of diverse characteristics to their campuses including youth and age, (PDF, 11.7 KB) financial comfort and financial need, racial and ethnic variation. (PDF, 12.4 KB) Low tuition tips the scale in favor of community colleges for many people when they are weighing higher education options. The low cost of community colleges relative to four-year or for-profit institutions (PDF, 9.27 KB) has almost universal appeal but is especially important to people with low incomes. Most community colleges have transfer agreements with baccalaureate institutions by which the senior institutions accept community college credits toward four-year degree requirements. Many students choose to complete their freshman and sophomore years of coursework at a community college, thus significantly reducing the cost of a four-year degree. The location of community colleges near residential areas is important to many people. Women with young children, for instance, put a premium on convenience because they frequently take classes around their and their spouses' work schedules, and babysitters' availability. It is no surprise then that 58 percent of community college students are women. (PDF, 9 KB) Minority students also favor community colleges, making up 30 percent of community college enrollments nationally. (PDF, 12.4 KB) In urban areas, community college enrollments reflect the proportion of minorities in local populations. Offering classes in English as a second language typifies community college academic activities that respond to community needs. Teaching English to immigrants helps them crack the written and spoken code in their new homeland and sends a powerful positive message to them: A college education in the United States is not a luxury reserved for someone else; it is a possibility for you and your children. Remedial education courses at community colleges keep open the possibility of degree programs and highly technical vocational training for those who need to improve reading, writing and computation skills. The multitude of community college courses and the various times they are offered allow working people to fit higher education into their schedules. More than 80 percent of students balance studies with full-time or part-time work. (PDF, 11.6 KB) Many students also have family responsibilities. Community colleges report a new enrollment phenomenon in the growing number of students with bachelor's and other degrees who choose to come back to community college. They attend for computer classes and other instruction in order to keep up with the technology that permeates work and leisure activities. Certification programs (PDF, 12 KB) or workforce training classes continue to appeal to people who want to move up the ladder in their current jobs as well as to those who want to obtain different work that requires particular skills. At community colleges, people can continue to learn at any point in their lives. The fast pace of technological innovations and increasing frequency of job and career changes can create the potential for people to return to community colleges again and again. Based on material from National Profile of Community Colleges: Trends & Statistics, Phillippe & Patton, 2000. ** Additional Enrollment Information**
Related Links
State-by-State Profile of Community Colleges
National Profile of Community Colleges, Trends & Statistics, 3RD Edition
Notable Community College Alumni
Members of Congress with Community College Backgrounds
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