Some of the poor performance of students in community colleges is a reflection of inadequate preparation in elementary and secondary school and tough personal economic circumstances that require students to work full time while pursuing their education. But researchers have also found that these students are less likely than their peers with similar backgrounds at four-year institutions to complete a bachelor’s degree if they start at a community college. Examining students in Ohio, for example, Bridget Terry Long of Harvard University and Michal Kurlaender of the University of California at Davis found that students meeting this profile were 14 percent less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree if they started at a two-year college than at a four-year institution.
The Obama proposal could begin an important process of reversing the negative effects of socioeconomic segregation in higher education. The plan won’t deal with deeply entrenched inequalities in the country’s K-12 system or with the inadequate number of guidance counselors at community colleges, among the other considerable obstacles facing low-income and minority students in American education. And Republicans in Congress may indeed reject the plan, despite the embrace of free community college by a Republican governor in Tennessee.
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