Community college
students: Another view
Riverside Community College District Leadership
February 25, 2011
No use without permission
©John S. Levin
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90% are nontraditional college students
75% are at-risk of dropping out of college
66% attend college part time
50% are low income or poverty level status
50% do not enter college directly from high school
50% are over 24 years of age
45% are the first in their families to attend college
41% work full time
33% are minority populations
17% are single parents
8% are people with disabilities (wide range)
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 individual
over collective advancement
 personal over group success
 equality of opportunity over equality of
conditions
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 A.
delayed enrolment
 B. attends part-time
 C. works full-time
 D. financially independent
 E. has dependents
 F. single parent
 G. no high school diploma
 H. minority status
 I. has physical or mental disability
 Minimally
non-traditional—one
characteristic
 Moderately non-traditional—2 or 3
characteristics
 Highly non-traditional—4 or more
characteristics
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1.
2.
3.
Not necessarily captured in state/national data sets—
often enroll non-credit courses and programs
May include:
Immigrants—documented and undocumented—who
undertake English as a second language programs
Welfare clients who enroll in non-credit courses (e.g.,
medical terminology) so that they can qualify for entrylevel office jobs (e.g., medical)
Students with physical and/or mental disabilities who
endeavor to learn practical techniques to get through the
week or day—such as navigating the local bus schedule or
completing a job application
 incorporates
how students experience and view
college
 draws upon students as actors
 a phenomenological perspective that highlights
the issues from the student point of view
 includes student motivations and goals as well as
their learning and developmental outcomes, but
from their perspective
 addresses
how the institution, the state, and
indeed the public and private sectors treat
and behave toward the student
 includes the policies and actions of
institutions and the state, such as welfare
reform, that affect students
 framework indicates if and the extent to
which the community college and its mission
and actions provide justice for students
 incorporates the justice model which I derive
from John Rawls
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 Assist
students—enable them to
understand and navigate the institutional
norms of college life
 Advantaging of disadvantaged students
consistently and comprehensively—not
just for the few
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 Community
college as a caring institution
 Central
college mission can become:
development of students
 Measures
of performance based upon the
development of student talent
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 Rawls’
(1999) theory of justice—justice as
fairness and the principle of fair equality of
opportunity
 The hardships of some are not ruled out
by the greater good to the aggregate or
whole. “…[I]n order to treat all persons
equally, to provide genuine equality of
opportunity, society must give more
attention to those with fewer native assets
and to those born into the less favorable
social positions.”
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Levin, J. S., & Montero-Hernandez V. (2009). Community colleges
and their students: Co-construction and organizational identity.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Levin, J. S. (2007). Non-traditional students and community
colleges: The conflict of justice and neo-liberalism. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Levin, J. S., Kater, S., & Wagoner, R. (2006). Community College
Faculty: At Work in the New Economy. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Levin, J. S. (2001). Globalizing the Community College: Strategies
for Change in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Palgrave/St.
Martin’s Press.
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36% of students were Hispanic, 35% were Caucasian, 11%
were African American, 9% were Asian/Pacific Islanders,
and 1% were Native American
Over 60% of students under the age of 25; 40% 25+
60% female
72% of RCCD students attended part time (fewer than 12
units)
How does this population match up against Risk
Factors—delayed enrolment; attending part-time;
working full-time; financially independent; with
dependents; single parent; no high school diploma;
minority status; and, physical or mental disability?
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