Washington Monthly - September/October 2022 - 41

The Memphis grind: Rod dropped out of community college after passing his remedial classes, receiving no credits for them,
and finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with school while working.
Teaching and promoting the behaviors necessary for college
and transfer success seem best conveyed through coordinated
efforts by faculty and student affairs professionals.
More communication among advisers and faculty can help integrate
the messaging students receive. This would allow students
like Tracy and Mia to parlay their associate's degrees
into further educational training and eventually better jobs.
Various colleges and nonprofits run programs contacting
people with college credits and no degree, making efforts
to convince them to reenroll. Investing in keeping students
enrolled through graduation and potential transfer seems a
more efficient way to boost the country's overall educational
attainment than trying to reenroll students who attempted
college but dropped out. Only a third of students who reenrolled
in college between 2005 and 2008 ultimately earned
degrees, a lower completion rate than among first-time students.
Loan policy has created a significant obstacle: Following
a six-month grace period, payments on loans a nonenrolled
student previously entered into come due, and federal
unsubsidized and private student loans will have already
accrued interest. Moreover, federal student loans have a maximum
lifetime limit.
The types of reforms and additional services that community
colleges need to add to help students like Linda and
Tania succeed will require a major investment from Washington.
The average community college receives half or less revenue
per student than the average four-year state college, and
far less than elite private universities. They simply don't have
the money for the counselors they need to hire, or the administrative
support staff needed to coordinate curriculum with
high schools.
Last year's Build Back Better reconciliation bill, which included
tens of billions of dollars for community colleges and
services like counseling, died in the Senate last winter. A revived
version that passed this summer did not include money
for higher education. Still, future investment in community
college isn't inconceivable after the midterm elections, given
that vocational programs are, at least rhetorically, a Republican
priority.
Tania, meanwhile, is making the best of things at the
sandwich shop where she now works, her astuteness and attention
to detail noticeable to her customers. She now pours
the dreams she had for college into her younger sister, who
Tania feels determined should enroll somewhere selective,
live in a dorm, and experience everything she originally wanted
for herself. When she talks about it, she smiles, and her
eyes brighten.
Though her father still wants her to go to college, even
if she had to juggle work and school, Tania plans instead to
apply soon for a new job at a national drugstore chain. She
hopes to work her way up to the pharmacy, considering pharmacy
work close to her original interests in teaching or social
work. Eventually, she envisions moving to wherever her sister
might attend college. Tania is building hope around the promise
of economic opportunity through her sister's education,
if only she is prepared to figure out how to pursue and complete
it.
Jodie Adams Kirshner, a bankruptcy law scholar, is a research professor
at New York University's Marron Institute of Urban Management.
Her latest book is Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises,
and her forthcoming book is about access to higher education.
Washington Monthly 41
Brandon Hill

Washington Monthly - September/October 2022

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