A survey of students at 38 community colleges details how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting the most vulnerable.
On Thursday, the Center for Community College Student Engagement (the Center) at the University of Texas at Austin released “The Impact of COVID-19 on Entering Students in Community Colleges,” a report which spotlights the ongoing issues of students who have enrolled despite the obstacles caused by the pandemic. The survey was administered in fall 2020 to 5,193 entering students at 38 colleges around the country.
“These challenges and concerns were always there,” said Dr. Linda L. Garcia, executive director of the Center. “They’ve just been amplified with the pandemic.
“A theme that I’m seeing that is so important is connection with students, meaning are we knowing students at the individual level?” she added.
Among the findings is that Black, Latinx and Native American students were more likely to report having trouble keeping up with their coursework than White students due to lack of childcare.
Dr. Charles M. Roessel, president of Diné College, a tribal college in Arizona run by Navajo Nation, participated in the survey. The pandemic has directly impacted a childcare option at Diné.
“We have two facilities here on campus—a Head Start and an early childhood center, but Navajo Nation runs those, and they’ve been shut down and have not been reopened,” Roessel said.
