There’s no better place to see the transformative potential of postsecondary education than the community college, where Black learners like Tommy McCall, a 2023 Tallahassee Community College graduate and an Achieving the Dream DREAM Scholar, are earning credentials and transferring to baccalaureate institutions.
McCall, intimately aware of the obstacles Black students encounter in their pursuit of higher education, has benefited from the support and guidance Black learners need to achieve their academic, personal and career goals. In terms of racial equity, the importance of community colleges cannot be overstated — these are thriving places that have historically served as the primary entry point to higher education for countless Americans, especially students who are low-income, first-generation and identify as BILPOC.
The stats
Yet, in recent years, community college enrollment has declined significantly. Since its peak of 7 million in 2010, enrollment in community colleges has dropped to just 4.5 million in fall 2022, representing a nearly 40% decrease, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. When we looked at the same enrollment data when controlled for race and ethnicity, the results were even more concerning. During this same period, enrollment for Black 18- to 34-year-olds dropped by a full 29% (second only to American Indian or Alaskan Native, which saw a 35% decrease).
This article is an excerpt from the new issue of the Community College Journal, published by the American Association of Community Colleges.
Skeptics may be tempted to point to the Covid-19 pandemic as the source of the decline, but that only tells one part of the story. Looking back as far as 2000, higher education enrollment has lost 600,000 Black learners across all sectors; roughly half are from community colleges. In particular, Black men have turned away from community colleges, with more than 30% leaving since 2017.
Because Black enrollment did not increase in any other higher education sector over this period, and data show that they are not opting to enter the workforce for well-paying jobs, it begs the question: Why are Black learners not enrolling, and what are we going to do about it?
Our socio-cultural landscape might offer some clues. Recent studies show U.S. public confidence in the value of higher education has sharply decreased. Much of the distrust stems from the actual cost of college or university, which is often confusing or opaque in its structure. Students and their families who believe that they will be paying one price for their degree often find themselves in burdensome debt financing their education.
In 2015-16, 33% of Black graduates with a bachelor’s degree faced more than $40,000 in debt compared to 18% of white graduates and 13% of Hispanic graduates. For those earning an associate degree, only a third of Black learners graduated with no debt, compared to 49% of white graduates.
Read the rest of the article in CC Journal.
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Keith Curry, Ed.D., is president/CEO of Compton College in California.
Monica Parrish Trent, Ph.D., is the chief network and program officer for Achieving the Dream.