The Greensboro News & Record ran an editorial over the weekend on community college graduation rates. Basically, no one focuses much on what percentage those that attend community college actually graduate. To help address that, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is providing the state with a nearly $500,000 grant.
That’s all well and good and will help to a point. But only to a point. As a former community college instructor, I can say that several of the major causes of attrition are items that those running the system and individual schools do not want to admit to let alone address. Like, yes, cheap tuition. If students don’t have much invested, it’s hardly surprising when many drop out when they face the slightest adversity. Which creates a slack academic environment. And community college administrators are unwilling to crack down on it, because those that take many courses without completing much of anything still contribute to the school’s FTE count and thereby attracting state dollars to the college.
