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May 15

How States Make Use (or Not) of Community Colleges

The various roles of community colleges in state higher education systems — educating students who will transfer to four-year institutions, providing job training and so forth — may seem similar from state to state. But a study being released today by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government — a research arm of the State University of New York — highlights vast differences in the way states make use of and support their community colleges.

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The report looks at a series of measures of how community college education fits in. States vary by as much as five to one in the portion of their population attending community colleges, and the share of states’ college enrollment cohort enrolled at two-year institutions was found to be four times greater in some states than others. Significant gaps were also found in tuition rates, as compared to median income in states.

The differences examined can have major effects on political support for community colleges. For instance, in California, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico, more than 4 percent of the adult population is currently enrolled in a community college either full- or part-time. But in another 18 states, that percentage is less than 2 percent.

Nationally, the study found that 44 states experienced growth in full-time equivalent enrollments from 2000-5, while 4 states experienced declines and two states did not have information available. Twelve states experienced growth greater than 20 percent during that period: West Virginia (66.7 percent), Maine (40.5 percent), Montana (37.4 percent), Kentucky (36.7 percent), Arkansas (30.2 percent), Georgia (28.6 percent), New Hampshire (25.9 percent), Vermont (25.9 percent), Pennsylvania (22.5 percent), New Jersey (20.7 percent), Connecticut (20.7 percent) and Utah (20.0 percent).

David F. Shaffer, a senior fellow at Rockefeller and author of the report, said that the analysis isn’t supposed to suggest a magic line for the categories that states should be above or below. Rather, he said, “what I’m trying to do is alert people to the differences,” to suggest that state officials may want to reconsider their policies based on the wide range of approaches in use.

The following table shows two of the variables studied. The states are ranked in order of their percentage of FTE in all public and private higher education that is enrolled at community colleges. The “tuition burden” figure represents the tuition for full-time enrollment as a share of median family income in the state. Figures were not available for Alaska. The data represent students enrolled for credit — which for many community college excludes a significant portion of enrollments.

Community College Share of State Enrollments and ‘Tuition Burden,’ 2005

Rank in Share

State

2-Year Share of Enrollment

Tuition Burden

1

Wyoming

47.3%

2.7%

2

California

46.4%

1.1%

3

Washington

46.1%

3.4%

4

Mississippi

41.9%

3.0%

5

New Mexico

39.9%

2.3%

6

New Jersey

35.4%

2.9%

7

Texas

35.3%

2.2%

8

Illinois

33.2%

2.8%

9

North Carolina

32.6%

2.3%

10

Oregon

32.0%

4.3%

11

Kansas

31.3%

3.2%

12

Maryland

31.0%

3.3%

13

Iowa

30.6%

4.6%

14

South Carolina

30.3%

4.7%

15

Georgia

27.8%

2.5%

16

Arkansas

27.6%

3.4%

17

Kentucky

27.4%

4.7%

18

Alabama

26.8%

5.0%

19

Michigan

26.8%

2.8%

20

Hawaii

26.8%

1.5%

21

Minnesota

26.4%

5.2%

22

Nebraska

26.2%

3.0%

23

Virginia

25.7%

2.7%

24

Florida

25.4%

2.9%

25

Wisconsin

25.3%

4.1%

26

Oklahoma

25.1%

3.4%

27

Arizona

24.1%

2.1%

28

Ohio

22.0%

4.8%

29

Tennessee

21.3%

4.0%

30

New York

20.6%

4.5%

31

Delaware

20.5%

2.9%

32

Connecticut

19.7%

2.7%

33

Missouri

19.6%

3.4%

34

Colorado

19.6%

2.8%

35

North Dakota

16.2%

4.9%

36

Maine

16.1%

4.4%

37

Montana

15.5%

5.0%

38

Massachusetts

14.5%

3.3%

39

West Virginia

14.3%

6.0%

40

Louisiana

14.0%

2.8%

41

Rhode Island

13.7%

3.3%

42

Utah

13.5%

3.6%

43

Pennsylvania

13.3%

4.1%

44

New Hampshire

13.2%

6.5%

45

Idaho

12.6%

3.2%

46

South Dakota

12.5%

4.8%

47

Indiana

11.9%

4.1%

48

Nevada

10.7%

2.8%

49

Vermont

7.6%

5.8%

— Scott Jaschik

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Comments

Does anyone know if the tuition burden represents the burden for ALL FTE enrollments or just those in community colleges?

Thanks. joe p.Annandale, VA

Joe Provenzano, at 8:50 am EDT on May 15, 2008

cc tuition

The tuition figure used in the study was just for community colleges. You can get a copy of the the study by going to the Rockefeller Institute website and clicking on publications, education, higher education.

Gary Davis, at 10:20 am EDT on May 15, 2008

tuition burden

Does similar data exist for four year schools and if so where?

kel, at 11:05 am EDT on May 15, 2008

Tuition Burdens Vary by Income

The study is quite valuable. Thank you. But would it also be ore helpful if the tuition burden was calculated not on the entire state ’s median income but of the population that attend community colleges. I believe there would be some significant differences in burden found that make the tuition increases in community college ever more significant for their population. The numbers would also shift the way state support appears.

Neal Raisman, at 11:10 am EDT on May 15, 2008

I agree that the tuition should be calculated on the CC population, although I realize that is more difficult date to collect. What I don’t see is the amount of support that the CCs get from their state. I know that California and Indiana fund their CCs extremely well, allowing the tuition portion to be lower than in states such a ours where we are actually receiving less money per student than we did more than 10 years ago. The money to support programs and classes has to come from somewhere.

Donna Edgar, advising and transfer, at 1:10 pm EDT on May 15, 2008

Just Doing My Job

Okay posters, here is the study ...

http://www.rockinst.org/assets/C8135F17-6B9A-4BB0-BBAD-306FBDFA9BB0.pdf

It’s only 12 pages long – and with six page-size tables – so read it.

Frizbane Manley, at 1:40 pm EDT on May 15, 2008

“Tuition” is a meaningless term without required fees. The tution at some MA community colleges is 1/3 of the required payment. Tution is set by the state legislature; fees by the colleges. Where I am now, the president went on and on about how a nearby college was so much cheaper—until someone pointed out to him that, with their REQUIRED fees, the money students pay to go there has been higher than ours for years.

Also, how much of the tuition is subsidized by taxes? how much financial aid do students get? Everytime I have a student who lounges around not buying the books, not coming to class, not doing the work, and whining, I am enraged at this robbery of MY taxes and the subsidization of MY and MY COLLEAGUES’ income and benefits in order to provide a cheap education for people who treat it and us as worthless.

Judith, at 2:50 pm EDT on May 15, 2008

Neal and Donna, why should the tuition be restricted to the income of the end user? this will just make it go higher. In most cases the larger the N, the more favorable the outcome. Plus are you assuming that the end user in the CC is poor? Wrong!Greg

Greg, at 3:45 pm EDT on May 15, 2008

I’d like to see this table adjusted to exclude adults who already have 4-year and higher degrees. I know they also attend community college, but not in vast numbers.

Also, I’d like to see this table adjusted to exclude adults who lack a HS diploma or GED. This population is, by and large, ineligible for the college credit course enrollment addressed by the table.

The Hub, at 5:45 pm EDT on May 15, 2008

Tuition and fees

To Judith’s point — “Tuition is a meaningless term without required fees” — you’re right and the “tuition” numbers used do in fact include required fees (as reported to IPEDS).

kel asked if similar data exist for four-year schools and the answer is “yes"; the report gives a link to the Digest of Education Statistics (http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/2007menu_tables.asp) from which you should be able to obtain the data.

If you have trouble finding or interpreting any of the data feel free to correspond with me directly via shafferd@rockinst.org — although it’s important to keep these public posts going, too!- David Shaffer

David Shaffer, Senior Fellow at Rockefeller Institute of Government, at 8:00 pm EDT on May 15, 2008

A ‘So what?’ question

It would be interesting to know whether a high proportion of 2-year enrolments is associated with any important outcome, such as overall college participation rate or the college participation rate of low income students.

From my quick perusal of the Rockefeller Institute’s tables and my recollection of the Education Commission of the States’ scorecards (why can’t I raise its website just now?) it would seem that there is no such association, but I’m happy to have my impression corrected.

Gavin Moodie, Principal Policy Adviser at Griffith University, Australia, at 10:45 pm EDT on May 15, 2008

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