Community College Remediation: A Bermuda Triangle For Students

In the September Washington Monthly www.washingtonmonthly.com/  Camille Esch has a beautifully written overview of the the endemic problems of community college remediation- eg few students are ever heard from again. This quote about Sacramento , Ca. City College is a small sample:

” Only 60 percent of the community college’s 3,000 remedial students pass their classes with a C or higher.  Those who go looking for help at Sacramento City will face a melange of disconnected programs and services.  The college’s academic counseling center is badly understaffed, and most of the tutoring available on campus is provided by other students.”

Community colleges get funding based on the number of students they enroll, not the number of students that finish. Community colleges receive much less per pupil than 4 year colleges. It will be a challenge for Obama’s 12.5 billion proposed program to overcome these obstacles.