Last week I discussed the financial and enrollment pressures facing the California State University system. An article in today's Silicon Valley Mercury News looks at problems in California's community college system. The article reveals that only 4 out of 10 students who enter community college with the goal of transferring to a four-year college actually ever reach that goal. The difficulty of the transfer application, the increasing competition for transfer admissions, and financial challenges were cited as significant factors in the low percentage of students going on for a bachelor's degree.
California is not unique in facing these problems. The combination of decreased funding for public education and increased demand for low state tuition means we probably haven't yet seen the worst when it comes to challenges facing community college students.
Comments
Allen,
These are indeed historically tough times for students in California. I think that what is particularly disheartening for students (and parents who support students) who are in the college search window is that they tend to project current unemployment rates into the future and do not want to be saddled with exorbitant debt with an expensive bachelor’s degree and no job upon graduation. We do not know what the employment picture will look like in the future, but it is tough to argue with the fact that having a completed college degree is better at face value than not having one as a prospective employee in a competitive job market.
In California, prospective college students and parents will have to come to grips with the new reality that the state, at least in the short term and foreseeable future, cannot continue to subsidize college expenses at state schools as they have in the past. The burden of cost has officially shifted to the consumer. Ultimately, this makes for a more even playing field between state public schools and in state private, or out of state private or public schools.
As an optimist, I believe that the employment picture in the United States will be better in the future than it is today. I also believe that we are in a period of creative destruction (Schumpeter, 1942), where the old paradigm of a low cost state college institution is breaking down. The low-cost state degree is being replaced by opportunities at private universities who utilize distance learning technology, flexible enrollment, and consumer and market driven solutions that adapt more easily to changing demands. Something must and will fill the void created by closing the door on 40,000 prospective CSU students over the next two years.
I could not agree with you more that under these circumstances students need to broaden their college search options into private local universities, or out of state public/private universities.
I have advised my college counseling clients (as I normally due even under non-financial crisis times) to consider that there are over 4,000 post-secondary schooling options in the United States alone, and that many of these programs are willing to offer incentives like scholarships, grants, low cost loans to high quality candidates. The challenge is to become that high quality candidate and to identify creative ways to accomplish the goal of completing a college degree.
Michael Keller, Ed.D.
Licensed Educational Psychologist
Private College Counselor