Evidence arrives in tantalizing dribs and drabs:
* Almost 64 percent of juniors and seniors at Arizona State University have transfer hours from community colleges.
* Half of all the students receiving engineering degrees from the University of Maryland began at community colleges.
* About half of all juniors and seniors at the Newark campus of
Rutgers University are transfer students most of them probably from
community colleges.
* Enrollement of African American students in eight public
Mississippi universities increased by 1.8 percent from 1996-97 to
1997-98 while the number of first-time African American freshmen
dropped 8.3 percent during the same period. The difference? They are
transferring from community colleges.
School-by-school, state-by-state, the evidence is sketchy but tends
toward the same direction: more and more four-year college students are
beginning their higher education careers at community colleges.
If this is true, the implications for four-year colleges and
universities could be profound, especially in how they think about
recruiting and retaining students. This is especially true for students
of color, since about half of all college students of color attend
community colleges.
