Officials at local colleges question study's findings
Daily Breeze 2/3/07
The numbers are twice as high at two-year campuses in the South Bay and Harbor Area, but local community college officials Friday still took issue with the study by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at California State University, Sacramento.
They claim researchers misunderstand the role of California's two-year institutions. Not everyone at a community college wants a degree or plans to transfer to a four-year college, they say.
An audit by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, which relied on the same data used by the Cal State Sacramento researchers, showed nearly half of first-time students at El Camino College near Torrance transferred to a four-year college, earned an associate's degree or certificate, or were qualified to transfer during the 1998-99 through 2003-04 school years.
That rate increased to 50 percent during the 1999-2000 through 2004-05 school years; and 51 percent in the 2000-01 through 2005-06 school years.
Los Angeles Harbor College in Wilmington showed similar numbers to El Camino's.
During the 1998-99 through 2003-04 school years, 50 percent of students met those benchmarks. The rate jumped to 53 percent in the 1999-2000 through 2004-05 school years, but dropped to 48 percent in 2000-01 through 2005-06 school years, according to the audit.
The researchers at Cal State Sacramento, who studied the same data for schools statewide, said state policies regulating how much funding colleges receive, how schools spend their funds and fees rates influenced students' transfer success levels.
"Historically, state policies have succeeded in getting students into community colleges, but the same policies impede community colleges from flexibility in meeting the students' needs and getting them through college," said Nancy Shulock, lead author of Rules of the Game: How State Policy Creates Barriers to Degree Completion and Impedes Student Success in the California Community Colleges.
Indeed, more money from the state and more spending flexibility could help South Bay community colleges get more students into four-year universities, said Sue Oda-Omori, transfer center coordinator and counselor at El Camino College.
Like other community colleges, El Camino offers several programs that help students transfer to universities. But with only 26 full-time counselors to serve 25,000 students, the onus often falls on students themselves to seek assistance, she said.
"We kind of believe that more counseling and more student services would help," she said. "You do have to have the classes, too, that students need in order to transfer."
But college leaders faulted the Sacramento survey, saying it ignored ongoing attempts to improve student success and the unique circumstances faced by community colleges.
"I think the study is flawed on many levels," said Harbor College President Linda Spink. "It's a study done by the Cal State system, and we have a different mission than what the state university's is. The community colleges are open access. We're challenged more than a university setting that has entrance requirements."
Scott Lay, president of the Community College League of California, which lobbies on behalf of the colleges, said, "Frankly, we were insulted by the report. (It) shows a real misunderstanding of the mission of California's community colleges."
State community college Chancellor Mark Drummond said the report "misses the mark."
Researchers found that 40 percent of community college students want to enhance job skills or learn something new. About 60 percent want to transfer or earn a degree or certificate. Of those students, only one-quarter do it in six years, the study said.
"Some come specifically with a goal to transfer to a university," El Camino College's Oda-Omori said. "Some come just wanting to earn an associate's degree, and some come just to upgrade skills. Some come just to take fun classes."
She said 40 percent of the 25,000 students there declare a goal of transferring upon enrollment.
At Harbor, that number hovers around 30 percent of the 8,000 students, said Joy Fisher, the college's counseling division chair. In the 2004-05 school year, about 500 students transferred to a university, she added.
Community colleges receive most of their state funding based on enrollment, which leads some institutions to allow students to register late and postpone exams until enrollment is reported to the state, researchers said. That strategy boosts funding but not academic excellence, according to the survey.
The study proposes solutions, including a change in state financing of the community colleges that would take into account how many students complete programs or courses.