How community college dropouts affect your pocketbook

When community college students fail to return to school for a second year it affects more than just their individual pocketbooks, according to a new report by the American Institutes for Research (AIR).

The report, The Hidden Costs of Community Colleges, found that some $4 billion in federal and local government funds were spent over a five-year period on full-time students who didn’t return to school after their first year of studies. The research also showed that about one-fifth of full-time community college students fail to return for a second year of schooling.

According to the report, here’s a breakdown of how the almost $4 billion in taxpayer funds was spent on first-year, full-time community college students who didn’t return to school for a second year of studies:

• Almost $3 billion of the funds came from state and local governments.
• More than $240 million in state grants were given to students.
• Some $660 million in federal student grants were doled out.

“Taxpayers are investing billions of dollars to support students who never complete their first year,” said Mark Schneider,  AIR vice president and author of the report. “And these students are paying tuition, borrowing money, and taking time away from work to pursue certificates or degrees they aren’t getting.”

“We must pay far more attention to the high costs of low retention rates,” Schneider continued. “The hidden cost of community colleges is rising.” For example, during the 2008/2009 school year close to $1 billion was spent on full-time community college students who didn’t return to school. That is up 35 percent from the amount spent on such students five years earlier.

The report also notes the importance of addressing and improving the community college retention rate in order to reach the Obama administration’s goal of having the most college-educated population in the world by the year 2020.

“Given the central role community colleges play in the nation’s plans to regain its position as the number one country in the world when it comes to college-educated adults, and given the increasing fiscal difficulties facing individual states and the nation as a whole, it is clear that ‘business as usual’ is far too expensive,” reads the AIR report. “We need to find better ways of ensuring that students who enter a community college expecting to earn a degree or a certificate finish the first lap and ultimately get across the finish line.”