This paper provides an overview of strategic planning's role in enhancing higher education institutions' sense of strategic direction and outlining measurable goals. The study particularly reflects the practical experience of setting up a strategic plan within a community college at a Saudi Arabian university, providing academic insight into…

Transfer students have an expectation to finish a?bachelor's?degree program in the industry standard, four years. The purpose of this study is to help?create?viable?academic partnerships with surrounding technical colleges to produce clear articulation agreements, ensuring all technical college transfers graduate with a baccalaureate degree in the…

Recently, apprenticeships have re-emerged as an effective means of preparing young people for the 21st-century workplace (Browning & Nickoli, 2017; OECD, 2018). Especially, community colleges have been actively implementing modern apprenticeships within their degree programs by offering degree apprenticeships (DAs). The purpose of this…

Community college students are an untapped reservoir of talent and including them in social work education aligns with the values of the profession. Yet these students encounter formidable obstacles on the path from a 2-year degree to an affordable social work degree. In this article, we describe the systems thinking underlying a newly instituted…

Opportunity youth (OY; i.e., youth ages 16--24 who are neither working nor in school) are a population who is difficult to engage and retain in educational programs, particularly in community college career and technical education (CTE) programs. OY are an important population to community colleges, as CTE programs culminating in…

Bachelor's degree attainment for community college transfer students is one underutilized but essential pathway for reducing equity gaps in higher education. One way to achieve this at scale is through state-level initiatives dedicated to supporting transfer from community colleges to not-for-profit independent colleges. The Teagle Foundation and…

Conflicts are inevitable when diverse populations of students, administrators, and staff function in close proximity in the community college setting. Effective methods of resolving conflicts focus on supporting both sides in a dispute while creating an environment within which the participating stakeholders benefit from their interactions. Common…

For more than 10 years, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) regional accrediting body has required all of the nearly 800 institutions under its umbrella to prepare and execute a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) as part of the reaccreditation process that occurs every 10 years. Pursuant to the…

More states are considering what kinds of policies or processes can be put in place to successfully improve the degree attainment of their postsecondary students, and one popular option is a reverse transfer policy. Reverse transfer policies usually involve authorizing community colleges to award a degree or certificate to students that have…

Dual-enrollment (DE) science courses offer a way to strengthen the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics pipeline between high school and college. These courses offer high school students the opportunity to experience college science in a more supported environment, allowing them to adjust to the different academic and social demands…

The applied baccalaureate degree, which integrates once-terminal applied associate degrees and course work into a four-year degree, is a relatively new phenomenon in higher education. This article presents findings from the first of two phases of research conducted--utilizing Kingdon's (1995) Multiple Streams framework--exploring the status of…

College 101 courses--also called student success, introduction to college, orientation to college, or freshman experience courses--provide students with information about college and campus services, assistance with academic and career planning, and techniques to improve study habits and personal skills. This study investigated College 101 courses…

Difficulties in paying for college and in maintaining good academic performance are two major hurdles to college graduation for low-income students. In recent years, state and federal budgets for postsecondary education have been cut significantly, limiting the options policymakers, education leaders, and communities have to improve rates of…

Owing to the significant structural changes that have occurred in the global marketplace over the past 2 decades, a corresponding increase of public-private partnerships have been established among the business sector, local governments, and public community colleges. This qualitative project sought to identify and substantiate key elements that…

Launched in 2003, "Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count" is a multiyear national initiative designed to improve educational outcomes for community college students, particularly students of color and low-income students. Supported by Lumina Foundation for Education and other funders, the initiative has grown to include 98…