Community colleges increase college access, extending postsecondary educational opportunities to underserved students, yet, these students exhibit low rates of program completion and transfer to 4-year colleges. Sociological research on community colleges focuses on the tension between increasing educational opportunity and failing to improve…

Two related themes currently dominate discourse on open-access colleges, particularly community colleges: increasing college-going and degree attainment and improving the performance of postsecondary institutions with respect to producing graduates. Largely missing from this discourse, however, is cogency concerning the innumerable ways in which…

This essay canvasses selected studies undertaken by economists on the community college. Key authors and journals are noted, followed by an examination of what economists contribute to our understanding of the community college in terms of costs, price and financial aid, economic and social benefits, and the institution's role in furthering…

Reviews the major contentions of Brint and Karabel's study of the growth and transformation of the American junior college from 1900 to 1985. While recognizing the scholarly contributions of the book, identifies questions that it does not consider and contests a number of conclusions. (DMM)

Assesses the community college transfer function with respect to low transfer and retention rates, the value of associate degrees, lack of congruence between students' intention to transfer and actual transfer rates, vocational programs as subbaccalaureate tracks, curriculum structure, the overproduction of bachelor's degrees, and colleges'…