January 09, 2024

A State Calculates the Costs of Dual Enrollment

In an article on the costs of dual enrollment in Inside Higher Ed, John Fink noted some of the ways that dual enrollment can pay off for community colleges. 

January 08, 2024

In College Math, Faculty Is Key. But Will This Insight Actually Help Students?

The pool of students who have access to college-level math has broadened, Susan Bickerstaff told EdSurge. A more diverse set of students requires increased support for high-quality teaching, which includes providing faculty with specific examples to guide their implementation of better instructional principles.

December 14, 2023

Toward a Transfer Guarantee

Interest in guaranteed admission surged after the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ban. “It’s hard to overlook the potential impact of the transfer pool on both enrollment and diversity,” said John Fink. “Now more than ever, guaranteed and dual-admissions plans make a lot of sense.”

December 07, 2023

The Road to a Bachelor’s Degree: 7 Ways to Strengthen Transfer Pipelines

Many students looking to earn their bachelor's are tripped up by the transfer process, losing credits and taking more courses on average. In a new CCRC report, the authors write that without clear, structured transfer pathways, the community college transfer pathway reinforces existing inequities.

November 24, 2023

Unlocking Opportunity to Help Focus Students at OC

With the continuing evolution of community colleges, Odessa College has become part of Unlocking Opportunity, a network of 10 two-year colleges partnering with Aspen Institute and CCRC to focus on postgraduate outcomes.

November 15, 2023

How Community Colleges Are Revamping Their Student Onboarding Process

Institutions  are helping learners select programs of study through meta-majors, which Hana Lahr described to Higher Ed Dive as a useful tool to help colleges map their offerings. According to Lahr, incorporating them into other onboarding processes maximizes their utility.

November 14, 2023

College Transfer Process Is ‘DIY’ for Many Students

John Fink told Inside Higher Ed that the process of transferring is generally an uphill battle: “Sometimes I think about it like a DIY transfer pathway, students are really sort of on their own to figure this out.”

November 14, 2023

Universities Prepare to Launch 2-Year Colleges

Two four-year universities announced plans to launch two-year colleges on their campuses. Tom Brock responded to these plans in Inside Higher Ed, saying this model could be a “great experience for a small number of students” with valuable ripple effects for them, but “investing in community colleges still needs to be the larger emphasis for public policy."

November 10, 2023

Education Department Releases New Data on Transfer

The release of the data aims to motivate institutions to measure and improve their transfer outcomes, reports Inside Higher Ed. John Fink commented that the data have limits but their release is a “huge step forward.”

November 10, 2023

Why Is It So Hard For Community College Students to Transfer Credits to 4-year Institutions?

In an interview for Marketplace, John Fink discussed why transfer students often get lost, and how strengthening communication between two- and four-year institutions could help.  “I think our conventional approach with transfer students, why we’re getting these low outcomes, is ‘We’ll just start taking courses at a community college and figure it out later.'"