COMMUNITY COLLEGES: GENERAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

by Elizabeth Foote

Contents

The community college is defined as any institution accredited to award the associate in arts or science as its highest degree. There are 1047 publicly supported community colleges in the United States. Most offer a comprehensive curriculum including the following programs:

• transfer/liberal arts programs designed for students who plan to obtain a baccalaureate degree; these programs lead to an associate degree in science or the arts;
• vocational/occupational programs leading to a certificate or an associate degree in applied science;
• community education and personal interest courses which do not award academic credit;
• developmental/remedial programs designed to prepare students to enter degree or certificate programs by improving their communication or mathematical skills.

In addition, there are 437 private institutions, including accredited proprietary institutions.

• Approximately 42% of the first-time, full-time freshmen in the U.S. enroll in a community college, earning some 465,053 associate degrees in 1993-94.
• Credit course enrollment totaled 2 million full-time and 3.5 million part-time students in Fall 1993.
• The average age of the student is approximately 32.
• The modal age of the student is 19.
• Women make up 57.8% of community college enrollments.
• In terms of ethnicity, 69.8% of community college students are Caucasian, 11.1% are African-American, 10.5% are Hispanic, 4.6% are Asian, and 1% are Native American. Approximately 1% are nonresident aliens.
• Approximately 46.4% of all minorities enrolled in higher education are attending two-year colleges.

• 276,413 faculty members teach in two-year institutions.
• About 69% are part-time instructors.
• 63.9% of the faculty have a masters as their highest degree and 18.9% hold a doctorate or professional degree.
• The average salary for instructors in public two-year colleges in 1995 was $ 42,101.

• State appropriations, tuition, and local funds comprise most of the operating funds.
• State appropriations accounted for 43% of the operating revenue for public two-year colleges in Fall 1992.
• Tuition accounted for 22% of the revenue in Fall 1994.
• Local funds accounted for 19% of the revenues in Fall 1994.
• Average charges in 1996 for tuition and fees were approximately $1245 at public community colleges and $11,502 at private two-year colleges.

American Association of Community Colleges
President: David R. Pierce
One Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 410
Washington, D.C. 20036-1176
202/728-0200
http://www.aacc.nche.edu

American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges
State Technical Institute at Memphis
5983 Macon Cove
Memphis, TN 38134
901/383-4643
http://www.amatyc.org

Association of Canadian Community Colleges
President: Tom Norton
1223 Michael St., Suite 200
Ottawa, ON K1J 7T2
613/746-6492

Association of Community College Trustees
President: Ray Taylor
1740 N. Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
202/775-4667

Community College Consortium
Managing Director: Patricia Carter
2034M School of Education Building
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259
313/747-1978

Community College Humanities Association
President: David A. Berry
Essex County College
303 University Avenue
Newark, NJ 07102
201/877-3204

ERIC Clearinghouse for Community Colleges
Director: Arthur M. Cohen
3051 Moore Hall, Box 951521
University of California
Los Angeles, CA 90095
800/832-8256
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/ERIC/eric.html

League for Innovation in the Community College
Executive Director: Terry O'Banion
26522 La Alameda, Suite 370
Mission Viejo, CA 92691
714/367-2884
http://www.league.org

National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD)
Director: Suanne Roueche
University of Texas at Austin
College of Education, SZB 348
Austin, TX 78712-1293
512/471-7545
http://www.nisod.org

Many other groups formed around curricular areas and special interests are active in the two-year college field.

Community College Journal
American Association of Community Colleges
One Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 410
Washington, D.C. 20036

Community College Journal of Research and Practice
Taylor & Francis, Publishers
1010 Vermont Avenue N.W., Suite 200
Washington, D.C. 20005

Community College Review
Box 7801
Raleigh, NC 27695-7801

Community College Times
American Association of Community Colleges
One Dupont Circle, N.W., Suite 410
Washington, DC 20036

Community College Week
10520 Warwick Ave., Suite B-8
Fairfax, VA 22030-3136

Journal of Applied Research in the Community College
Department of Educational Administration and Foundations
Illinois State University
331 DeGarmo Hall
Normal, IL 61761-5900

New Directions for Community Colleges
Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers
350 Sansome Street
San Francisco, CA 94104

Addy, C. L. (1995). The president's journey: issues and ideals in the community college. Jaffrey, NH: Anker Publishing Company, Inc. 145 pp.

Baker, G. A., III, & Others (Eds.). (1994). A handbook on the community college in America: its history, mission, and management. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 720 pp.

Cohen, A. M., & Brawer, F. B. (1996). The American community college (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc. 539 pp.

Eaton, J. S. (1994). Strengthening collegiate education in community colleges. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. 202 pp.

Falcone, L. (Ed.). (1994). The critical link: community colleges and the workforce. Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges. 97 pp.

Griffith, M., & Connor, A. (1994). Democracy's open door: the community college in America's future. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 159 pp.

Grubb, W. N., (1996). Working in the middle: strengthening education and training for the mid-skilled labor force. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc. 304 pp.

Myran, Gunder, & Others. (1995). Community college leadership in the new century: learning to improve learning. Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges. 100 pp.

O'Banion, T. (1997). A learning college for the 21st century. Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges and Oryx Press. 260 pp.

Peterson's guide to two-year colleges, 1997 (27th ed.). (1996). Princeton, NJ: Peterson's Guides. 711 pp.

Raby, R. L., & Tarrow, N. (Eds.). (1996). Dimensions of the community college: international, intercultural, and multicultural perspectives. New York: Garland Publishing Inc. 334 pp.

Ratcliff, J. L., Schwarx, S., & Ebbers, L. H. (1994). Community colleges (2nd ed.). ASHE Reader Series. Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing.

Rhoads, R. A. & Valadez, J. R. (1996). Democracy, multiculturalism, and the community college: a critical perspective. Critical Education Practice, 5. Garland Reference Library of Social Science, 1081. New York: Garland Publishing Inc. 231 pp.

Roueche, J. (1997). Embracing the tiger: the effectiveness debate and the community college. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Community Colleges. 200 pp.

Roueche, J. E., & Others. (1995). Strangers in their own land: part-time faculty in American community colleges. Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges. 201 pp.

Seagren, A. T., & Others. (1994). Academic leadership in community colleges. Lincoln, NE: Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. 176 pp.

Witt, Allen A., & Others. (1994). America's community colleges: the first century. Washington, DC: American Association of Community Colleges. 344 pp.

The statistics cited were gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics.

The ERIC Clearinghouse operates under the OERI Contract No. RR-93002003. The opinions expressed in this Digest do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of OERI and no official endorsement by OERI should be inferred.

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Updated 10/10/01
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