Community College Baccalaureate Degrees: Although 24 states authorize some community colleges to award bachelor’s degrees, limited data exist on community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs. Using IPEDS data and feedback from state agencies, New America released a report that identifies the number of CCB programs, their areas of study and types of degrees:
- Currently, 15 of the 24 CCB-authorizing states are located west of the Mississippi River, and the number of CCB-authorizing states has accelerated in the past five years.
- Early policy adopters, such as Florida and Washington, have higher rates of approved and active CCB programs. However, states like Wyoming and Ohio that are newer to CCB have rapidly approved CCB programs in response to labor market demands.
- Most CCB programs are concentrated in business, health professions, education, and computer and information sciences and support services. Additionally, programs typically grant a Bachelor of Applied Science, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
Designing Micro-pathways: Recently, Education Design Lab released a report discussing insights from the first cohort of its Community College Growth Engine Fund (CCGEF). CCGEF is a design initiative that provides funding for select community colleges to launch a series of micro-pathways, which incorporate two or more stackable credentials, can be completed in less than a year and lead to a high-wage job. The recent cohort, comprised of teams of colleges, learners and employers, co-created 30 micro-pathways. Read the full report here and view a repository of all 30 micro-pathways here.
Fall 2021 Enrollment Trends: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, enrollment across all postsecondary institutions remains down. Recently, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released enrollment trends from the fall 2021 semester, which provide a more detailed picture of postsecondary enrollment during the pandemic:
- Overall, postsecondary enrollment declined by 2.7% since fall Enrollment at community colleges declined by 3.4%, a smaller number than the decline at four-year institutions and a smaller drop than the year prior.
- Freshman enrollment at private non-profit four-year and public two-year institutions increased by 2.9% and 0.4% respectively, while it declined in other sectors.
- Compared to all sectors, public two-year institutions faced the largest decline of traditional college-age students (-5.3%) and the smallest decline of older adult students (-2.3%). Additionally, dual-enrolled high school students increased at public two-year institutions by 1.5%.
- Among CTE majors at public two-year institutions, enrollment declined the most for homeland security, law enforcement, firefighting and protective services programs, down by 7.4%, while enrollment in agriculture increased the most by 40.8%. In addition, enrollment in construction and transportation programs rebounded to fall 2019 levels.
COVID-19’s Prolonged Impact: The Center for Community College Student Engagement conducted a survey in spring 2021 with over 120,000 community college students to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect students’ financial situations and attitudes about safety:
- About 34% of students said their financial situation was worse than before the pandemic and 23% said they struggled to pay for college as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Overall, 59% of respondents said that they avoid situations where social distancing is not possible. Women, nontraditional-age learners and students of color were more likely to state this.
- Approximately 49% of respondents didn’t know if their college had COVID-19-related support services, an 8-percentage point decrease from fall 2020 survey responses. Part-time and white students were less likely to be aware of support services.
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