Who attends Washington’s community and technical colleges?
We know a lot about the nearly 500,000 students the 34 community and technical colleges educate every year. The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges produces an annual report that includes the number of students receiving financial aid, the most enrolled programs, and the diverse makeup of the student body.
However, a lack of information regarding the socioeconomic background of individual students has created an incomplete picture of student access and success.
To complete this picture, the State Board partnered with the Columbia University Community College Research Center to conduct a comprehensive socioeconomic study to learn more about Washington’s two-year college students’ income, education and occupational levels.
Completed in September, the study has created a better understanding of who attends a two-year college, as well as identified trends in tuition and family income levels.
“We found that a student’s socioeconomic status plays a major role in determining when they will pursue higher education,” said SBCTC Senior Researcher David Prince. “Students from middle and higher socioeconomic backgrounds go to college earlier, while students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds postpone college until later.”
The study also concluded that tuition rates are rising faster than average household income growth, and significant regional differences exist in the socioeconomic make-up of students at two-year colleges.
This data, as well as the recommendations of Governor Gregoire’s Washington Learns committee, will help guide higher education leaders as they answer the question, “What can we do to make higher education both accessible and successful for all residents?”
The socioeconomic data show online learning and dual enrollment programs, such as Running Start, Tech Prep and College in the High School, are having a significant impact on participation rates at two-year colleges.
Younger students are increasingly taking advantage of the benefits of attaining college credit while still in high school. And online learning is quickly opening the door to higher education for many working and placebound adults who traditionally would not have access to a college education.
But because dual enrollment and online programs have historically focused on academic transfer, the highest participation has been students from middle or higher income families.
“We are very proud of the success we have had with getting students on the pathway to higher education through these programs,” stated SBCTC Executive Director Charlie Earl. “However, it is increasingly apparent that lower income students are not participating and we need to create opportunities for them.”
Increasing educational attainment for all residents across the state is one of the major goals set by the State Board in its System Direction, a new report outlining the priorities of the two-year college system over the next 10 years.
“We are working on strategies to meet this goal,” explained Jim Garrison, chair of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. “For example, online instruction is being broadened beyond academic transfer courses to include pre-college coursework, adult literacy, GED and job training.”
The two-year college system is also seeking $4.5 million in funding from the Legislature for dual enrollment programs to support growth and eliminate students’ costs for the College in the High School program, he said.
And the Governor’s Washington Learns report has outlined a strategy for expanding opportunities for pre-apprenticeship programs to encourage more high school students to enter the trades, similar to the Running Start program.
“We want to ensure dual enrollment programs are accessible and attractive for all students, regardless of their economic backgrounds,” stated Garrison. “Removing prohibitive costs and expanding pre-apprenticeship programs will ensure a greater number of students stay engaged in learning while in high school and beyond."
The socioeconomic report suggests that younger students from lower income families are delaying coming to college and are showing up later on college campuses with lower basic skills.
“The fact that in the year 2000, children under 10 years old were much more likely to be in the lower income households than in 1990 makes this issue more compelling in its need for attention,” said SBCTC’s Prince. “Trends show we have increasingly more low-income people in our state. We need to find ways to make college more accessible to them in order to turn around the cycle of poverty.”
In Washington, one out of every six adults lacks basic literacy skills, yet only five percent of adults needing these skills enrolled in adult basic education programs last year.
Employers will be looking to these under-prepared adults as they try to fill the gap created by the wave of Baby Boomer retirements.
“In order for Washington’s economy to thrive, we must get every citizen at least one-year of college, plus a credential,” explained SBCTC’s Earl. “We know students entering our system with a high school diploma or less show a substantial boost in their earnings if they reach this goal.”
Credentials are evidence that a student earned a specific job skill, such as a certificate in welding, nursing or drafting.
With this goal in mind, the Legislature funded 11 pilot Opportunity Grant programs on two-year college campuses to get low-income adults onto the path of education leading to employment. Opportunity Grants, which started this fall, assist students struggling to maintain work and family obligations by removing obstacles such as tuition, childcare, books and fees.
The two-year college budget request for the next biennium includes investing $16 million to expand Opportunity Grants to all 34 community and technical colleges across Washington.
In addition, the request includes $14.1 million to support adult basic education programs, including basic skills for English speaking adults, English as a Second Language and GED preparation to infuse the state’s workforce with more highly skilled people.
Washington Learns also tries to increase access to workforce training for adults, especially those with low incomes, limited basic skills or limited proficiency with the English language, by recommending the expansion of I-BEST programs at two-year colleges.
Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) programs provide funding for colleges to pair a basic skills instructor with a vocational instructor to develop and deliver instruction.
“Students in I-BEST programs are learning language skills directly related to the work world,” explained Earl. “This knowledge is not only essential for them to acquire a living wage job and provide for their families, but necessary for us to grow our economy.”
Over the years, the cost of attending college has shifted from the state to students. Tuition at two-year colleges is 75 percent higher today than it was 10 years ago.
“It is reasonable to presume from the socioeconomic study that increasing tuition is a contributing factor to weaker participation rates for younger students from lower income households,” explained SBCTC’s Prince.
Over the past 10 years, tuition increases have been unpredictable from one year to the next with increases varying from four to 12 percent.
This year, the State Board is recommending the Legislature freeze tuition at the current level while it conducts a comprehensive study of both state and national tuition policies.
In addition, the two-year college system budget request includes $30 million in state funding to replace what would have come from a tuition increase to support on-going classroom instruction and activities, and pay for inflation in energy costs and other goods and services.
The tuition study will allow the State Board to analyze both student socioeconomic data and state population forecasts to assess the real impact of tuition levels on current and future students. A draft of the study will be completed in March.
“We need to strike the right balance between tuition and financial aid to ensure we keep higher education accessible for all students,” explained SBCTC Director of Financial Services Mary Alice Grobins. “If we see that our students’ financial aid needs are shifting outside a traditional model, then we must think of new, non-traditional ways to assist them.”
The information obtained from the Opportunity Grant pilot programs will be helpful in creating new tuition policies, she added.
Establishing a state tuition policy for higher education is one of the recommendations made by Washington Learns to ensure higher education opportunities are affordable for students.
Additional recommendations include expanding eligibility for the State Need Grant program to low-income working adults who are only able to take one class per quarter.
“It is the goal of both the State Board’s System Direction and Washington Learns to ensure every resident has access to affordable higher education and workforce training opportunities,” said Grobins. “We will continue to work to ensure the future of our state’s residents and our economy.”
According to the study, the distribution of students’ socioeconomic levels vary significantly from college to college.
“These differences, which can be large, have implications on how funding and resources should be aligned and raise questions about how to best support colleges so varied in their student body and community make-up,” explained SBCTC’s Prince.
Under each of the major goals of the State Board’s System Direction – Economic Demand, Student Success and Innovation – there is an element of recognizing the needs of the local economy and finding new ways for two-year colleges to build on their existing partnerships and leverage resources.
According to Prince, the next step for the socioeconomic study will be to share the localized data with colleges in order for them to study their districts, communities and student populations.
The data will be used to analyze state and regional needs and create incentives for colleges using innovative methods and approaches to achieve the objectives of the System Direction.
“We need to measure achievement to ensure our resources are directed to what works throughout the system,” said the State Board’s Garrison. “It’s not just about accessibility; it’s about success and investing in those activities and institutions that create success for students.”
According to both Garrison and Earl, this calls for two-year colleges to recruit, retain and increase participation among populations who have not historically benefited from higher education.
“We have much more good work to do,” stated Earl. “It will be our job to obtain resources, measure results and reward colleges for innovating, creating and producing meaningful change for students.”