Oklahoma community colleges tackle multiple missions

Of the 222,000 students in Oklahoma’s public higher education system, 42 percent attend a community college.

At Oklahoma's 14 community colleges, the student bodies can include high school students getting an early jump on college credits and displaced workers seeking a certification for new skills. The majority are part-time students. The average age is about 25.

“Community colleges serve all levels of students across education,” said Xueli Wang, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “They face several key challenges when fulfilling multiple missions.”

Those challenges are similar across the country, said Wang, who studies learning, pathways and student success, with a focus on community colleges.

“Many community colleges are underfunded and under-resourced,” she said.

That can result in a lack of academic advisers, a heavy reliance on part-time faculty and students choosing “courses that may not contribute to a cohesive whole toward their intended outcomes.”

They also are undervalued, Wang said.

Funding constraints

Community colleges rely on state support for a substantial share of their operating revenue. A report produced by the association of State Higher Education Executive Officers shows state support per full-time equivalent student in Oklahoma is $6,376. However, it's less than one-third that amount at some two-year colleges.

“There is an issue of inequity in funding” when it comes to state support of two-year and four-year institutions, Wang said, adding that the additional costs for upper-division instruction and research at universities account for a part, but not all the difference.

Likewise, there is a common assumption that community college students who transfer to four-year institutions are academically "inferior" to students who began as freshmen at the four-year school, Wang said. While that is true in certain cases, transfer students complete their bachelor’s degree at a similar rate to their peers, she said.

The real difference is the cost, said Greg Gardner, vice president for academic affairs at Oklahoma City Community College.

Students who complete their first two years of a bachelor's degree at a community college do so at "a greatly reduced price" compared to a four-year institution, Gardner said. At Oklahoma City Community College, students pay about $8,100 in tuition and fees for 60 credit hours. That is less than half the cost at Oklahoma's two research universities.

Money is always a concern at a community college, both in terms of affordability for students and state funding for the institution.

"We do always struggle with the funding picture," Gardner said.

The Legislature appropriates funds to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, which allocates the money to each of the 25 public colleges and universities.

"We really need to make sure the community colleges get the funding they need to serve their communities and their students," Gardner said.

Student success

Officials continually evaluate the degree programs and student services offered to ensure the money is spent where it is most needed, Gardner said.

Recently, Oklahoma City Community College began moving from nine full-time academic advisers — who each assist about 1,000 students — to a model that will employ 29 mentors to keep track of students and advise them in all areas, Gardner said. Each adviser will be assigned about 350 students.

"Our students are sometimes just one problem away from not coming back," he said.

The same is true at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City.

When students leave without completing a degree or certification, they most often cite difficulty balancing work, family and school responsibilities, said Nick Trougakos, OSU-OKC senior director of marketing and communications.

"Academic success is our primary measure of student success, but ... success is often as simple as supporting their persistence to the next milestone or talking them through a life issue," Trougakos said.

Students who take a single class to gain job-related skills are successful if they pass the class, but they won't show up in retention and graduation rates, said Tamara Pratt, vice president of external affairs at Rose State College in Midwest City.

Students who fail to complete a program leave for many reasons, often financial, Pratt said.

Among community college students who support themselves, 48 percent have incomes of less than $20,000, according to the Community College Research Center at Columbia University. The research center shows 67 percent of community college students work while in college, with 32 percent working 35 or more hours per week.

While 81 percent of entering community college students indicate they want to earn a bachelor's degree or higher, only 33 percent transfer to a four-year institution within six years, according to the research center.

Of 2,727 students at Rose State who seemed on track to pursue a bachelor's degree in 2018, only 796 actually transferred to a four-year school, Pratt said.

Many students at the three metro-area community colleges are the first in their families to attend college and need assistance navigating the world of higher education. They are quick to credit faculty with their success.

All three colleges face the challenge of how to help students achieve their goals with limited resources. None offers monetary incentives to instructors to mentor students.

"Faculty just perform this as part of their regular duties, but not on an official basis," Pratt said.

"I love how small the classes are," said freshman Esther Sloup. "Just being able to know the teachers one-on-one and being able to email them 'Hey I need help on this certain problem.'"