Policy, financial, and transportation barriers have limited participation in dual enrollment for marginalized (low-socioeconomic, first-generation, and ethnic minority) students in Oklahoma. This chapter presents a collaborative effort by education and community leaders that has successfully eliminated these barriers and increased the number of…

This chapter describes the impact of major changes in community college funding on its open-access mission, as well as on the work and responsibilities of college leaders as they attempt to balance the increasing demands made of their institutions while concomitantly grappling with diminished public fiscal support.

In California, public financial aid aimed at low-income students is not reaching some of the poorest students enrolled in community colleges. Outreach efforts to students are important, but high schools and community colleges must also make financial aid receipt a priority.

South Texas College (STC), created in 1993 as South Texas Community College (STCC), has developed from a concept by visionary leaders in the region to currently offering more than one hundred degree and certificate options for students from the counties of Hidalgo and Starr, including two bachelor of applied technology (B.A.T.) degrees. These…

Today's society is marked by massive political, social, and scientific transformations on a daily basis. However, these transformations are rarely discussed in the context of what it means to be an educated person. Our efforts to forecast, even for periods as little as five or ten years out, have been predicated on the assumption that the current…

Higher education and the military have been linked throughout U.S. history. Following World War II, the President's Commission on Higher Education released "Higher Education for American Democracy," popularly known as the Truman Commission Report of 1946. It called for, among other things, the establishment of a network of public community…

This article questions the dichotomous labeling and conceptualization of remedial and nonremedial students, particularly the added distinctions emphasized between four-year and two-year colleges, and it calls for a focus on the common challenges among all underprepared college students. The content of this article has attempted to broaden the…

Going inside the prison to teach is similar to traveling to a foreign country and encountering a new culture. When educators enter the prison, they experience a physical and social distance from other groups such as teachers on the outside, prison system employees, community members, and even family. Although educators who teach college in prison…

The missionary zeal of community colleges in the 1960s is still needed to meet the challenges they still face today: helping underserved and underprepared students succeed, and offering a strong general education curriculum that provides the foundation and framework for later academic and professional success. Even as economic, social, and…

Evidence clearly points to the presence of intercollegiate athletics at the early junior colleges established prior to World War I. Moving into more current times, the authors find among prominent reasons for institutional involvement with athletics giving students a "true college experience," expanding access, recruiting a more diverse student…

This article examines the impact of athletic participation on community college students through reflective commentaries provided by current and former community college student athletes. The author begins this exploration with a brief review of the literature on this topic, discusses the sample and methods used in the analysis of data, and then…

Mississippi Delta Community College (MDCC), one of the oldest community colleges in the country, is located in Sunflower County, Mississippi, which was home to both the infamous White Citizens Council and civil rights heroine Fannie Lou Hamer. It serves one of the poorest areas of the country; the unemployment rate in the district is higher than…

This chapter describes the evolution, content, and use of Florida's unit record system, which includes data on K-20 students and staff. It presents examples of how information derived from tracking is used both for state-level policy making and institution-level research and practice.

This chapter analyzes whether Hispanics and Hispanic immigrants in the City University of New York system have the same levels of access and achievement as other racial and ethnic populations. (Contains 3 tables.)

This chapter examines the flow of Latino students through the California Community College system. (Contains 2 figures.)