In community colleges in the United States, graduation rates remain frustratingly low. Students face many challenges, including the financial costs of attending college; the demands of school, work, and family; complex institutional systems; underfunded student support services; and insufficient preparation for college-level work. To address these…

The growing cost of college is one of the most significant barriers to completion. However, research shows that frequent, intensive advising, combined with financial and other support, can make a tremendous difference in helping students complete. For two years, TICAS has worked with a group of rigorously evaluated organizations across the country…

Each year millions of Americans make the decision to pursue a college education to improve their skill sets, boost their earning potential and transform their life circumstances. Yet almost 1 in 5 students leaves empty-handed after investing precious time and valuable resources. And many who amass student loan debt are crippled by the burden of…

At a time when the nation is focusing so much attention on college completion, what do we know about how students are completing their community college programs? Does the open-access mission of community colleges translate into equitable outcomes? Pathways to Results (PTR) engages practitioners in using data to close equity gaps for student…

The City University of New York's (CUNY's) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) combines many of the ideas from a range of programs into a comprehensive model that requires students to attend school full-time, and provides supports and incentives for three years. ASAP's financial aid reforms, enhanced student services, and scheduling…

In 2010, California's then-governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1440, called the "Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act" (Padilla, 2010), into law. This bill mandated that the state's 112 community colleges (CCCs) develop a new type of associate degree, an "associate degree for transfer," that specifically prepares a…

Describes the process of developing a long-range plan for the statewide implementation of Tech Prep associate of applied science (AAS) degree programs in Texas. Suggests that the most critical issues of implementation are effective resource allocation, program access, quality assurance, and building program infrastructure. (15 references.) (MAB)

Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) and the Extended Learning Institute (ELI) undertook a project to develop the mathematics, science, and engineering courses required to complete an entire Associate of Science degree in Engineering through home study distance education. The project's ultimate goal was to create asynchronous learning…

A model project at Indian Hills Community College, Ottumwa, Iowa, provided a degree-bearing second-year course of vocational study to a nontraditional audience seeking high-technology training. The flexible, competency-based program offered three paths of study: a course in personal computing resulting in a diploma or an associate degree, an…

An Associate Degree Nursing program was created and implemented in Del Rio, Texas, by Howard Junior College of Big Spring, Texas. The program was conducted via videotaped lectures that were televised simultaneously on both campuses. Opportunities were then available for students to ask questions of instructors through a teleconferencing system.…

An internationalized dietetic technician (DT) program was developed at the Milwaukee Area Technical College through a process that included the design and development of international modules to be used through infusion or an individual unit approach in selected courses. The following procedures were used: a review of the literature on benefits of…

This document consists of the materials presented at a one-day workshop dealing with a new concept in articulation between secondary and postsecondary institutions that involves two years of pretechnology education at the secondary level and two years of training in any one of a number of technical and high-technology fields at the postsecondary…

The E-Learn program is a collaboration of all seven University of Hawai'i (UH) community colleges to offer a distance-delivered Associate in Arts degree. The core mission of the UH Community Colleges is to put postsecondary education within the reach of every resident of the state. To provide that access, community colleges must be affordable,…