Along with implementing deliberate retention policies, hiring the right people to encourage students to persist in college is essential.

During its 64-year history, the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin has facilitated numerous studies and research projects. Of course, each initiative has unique findings, but some leave a lasting impression. Several years ago, we conducted focus groups all over the country, eliciting from community college students what motivated them to stay in school and, more important, what caused them to leave. We met with hundreds of students; and to this day, one student story still lingers. Meet Jessica.

Jessica, a young Hispanic woman, was the first person in her family to graduate from high school and the first to go to college. In her own words, “I worked very hard and made a lot of effort during high school to earn scholarships and get into college.” As she told her story, she indicated that her first semester was pretty typical of many students — a few bumps here and there — but in the end, she did well. However, things changed during her second semester when she enrolled in a psychology class. On the first test, she earned a C; unfortunately, her grades declined from there. Eventually, she was failing the class. After one of the exams, her professor told her, “You did not pass this exam. Perhaps you just are not college material. If you can’t pass my exams then you need to rethink college.”

Helping Students

Who are the students that community colleges serve? Today, community and technical colleges in the United States enroll almost half (46 percent) of all undergraduates — or 6.5 million credit students, according to the American Association of Community Colleges. Community colleges have a unique “open door” mission, giving all students the opportunity to pursue higher education. The students are rich in diversity — 35 percent are minority, 47 percent receive financial aid, 39 percent are the first in their family to attend college, and 60 percent are women, according to the AACC. Community colleges are also the grantors of second chances to many students who have had negative educational experiences. They educate more students in remedial courses than any other type of postsecondary institution. Forty-two percent of students at public two-year colleges are enrolled in at least one remedial reading, writing or mathematics course, compared to 12 to 24 percent at other institutions. With the increasing interest in learning college initiatives, growing awareness of the need to promote higher levels of student success and increased emphasis on state accountability measures, retaining students remains a challenge for colleges. Yet, the pressure has never been greater. Today, most community colleges are taking deliberate steps to implement retention policies and practices, including the following.