PHOENIX
Officials at Maricopa Community Colleges are searching for ways to keep their students in class.
Three-quarters of the college’s first-time, full-time students do not earn two-year degrees or certificates or transfer to universities within three years, according to The Arizona Republic.
Maricopa students also leave community college early without a degree at higher rates than the nation, with less than one in four returning the following school year.
“It’s a big problem,” Arizona State University President Michael Crow said of the Maricopa transfer rate.
College and university officials have launched several programs aimed at encouraging more students to stay and strive to earn four-year degrees. The latest, beginning this month, allows students to earn a bachelor’s degree in general studies from Indiana University while in Arizona.
Across the nation, community colleges are under pressure to keep more students in school and move them into four-year programs. If they don’t move on, they’ll clog a system that researchers predict will be flush with new students as young Americans enter college in record numbers.
