Boosting Enrollment at Urban Community Colleges: Strategies for Success

Abstract

Student’s Name Professor’s Name March 13th, 2021 “Looking ahead, I believe that the underlying importance of higher education, of science, of technology, of research and scholarship to our quality of life, to the strength of our economy, to our security in many dimensions will continue to be the most important message” Charles Vest Response to the Enrolment issues in Urban Community College Education Introduction It is unquestionable statement that majority of community colleges especially in urban areas of the United States of America have been facing rapid decrease in enrolment rates. Community colleges have the capacity to offer many students with practicable pathways into school completion and graduation, employment opportunities with adequate income; however, enrolment issues are deterring this process. The appropriate action plan for urban community colleges is if they were to improve and restructure their existing packages and approach a diverse category of students. The main focal point of urban community college should be on retention efforts. This includes creating and implementing inclusive approaches to boost the rates of completion and graduation through joint attempts to rationalize degrees by getting rid of extra free electives and trimming down departments. This could be made possible with joint, strategic and implemented projects like Guided Pathways that is reinforced by technology (Warren, 9). The Guided Pathways reform movement consist of advising administrators; faculty and professionals who have created a range of objective programs to unite technology and degree development and connecting it to the on-campus reinforcement services (Warren, 9). This strategy is known as Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success and it is more adequate as compared to development of new programs since it requires minimum time. Significantly, it would be less expensive and operate effectively with the available resources, the structures, the staff and course of action that is already exist. Urban community college should focus on collaborating with four-year institutions instead of competing with them. To improve enrolment rates, they should discuss curriculum maps as a component of 2+2 faultless transfer contracts in order for the credit transfer to be maximized to the advantage of the student seeking enrolment (Warren, 10). In addition, the focus of community colleges should be towards the students from massive unexploited markets who would to the highest extent gain from opportunities derived from their communities. In turn, this will provide reinforcement to the economic and cultural development of urban neighbourhoods. For instance, to provide better sustenance for professional non-traditional student with demographic which is essentially increasing in modern years at several urban community college, then the community college should think about empowering career, practical education internships, review boards, previous learning assessment credits and proficiency-based education credentialing. The priority of urban community college should also be on many students in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods having the mentality that education is not pertinent to them. To be able to provide adequate support towards first-generation college scholars and development of the economy of their neighbourhoods, the urban community should think about collaboration with Achieving the Dream (Warren, 12). Achieving the Dream is a membership network that works with many community colleges to provide support in developing a bolder vision for the success of every student. Through working with this network, the students and institutional collaborators achieve opportunities for development and accomplishment...