Local and State Constraints
While community colleges play an important role in fostering educational success and economic mobility, they are significantly impacted—and often constrained—by the local and state environments in which they operate. The colleges in our cohort are constrained by district and system offices, state and local policy, local labor markets, and their local higher education ecosystems. More broadly, a community college’s ability to recruit, retain, and adequately serve students is impacted by the economic and policy realities in their community. This is particularly true for adult students, because they often compare the benefits of college with their current labor market opportunities.
State and local policy significantly impacts a community college’s ability to recruit and retain adult students. This is evident for multiple colleges in our cohort. For example, multiple colleges in our cohort could not change the most critical components of the student recruitment and enrollment process—from their website layouts and course scheduling to SAP policies—without involving their district or system office.
Because district and system offices are not always as responsive to students' needs as individual colleges are, this relationship can create significant barriers for community colleges who want to adapt their institutional practices to meet adult students' needs. This can also prevent college leaders from advancing transformational change, as these leaders can feel burdened by their system office. In many instances, community colleges would benefit from additional flexibility from their system office so they can address student needs.
Beyond state, local, and system policy constraints, community colleges are also impacted by the local labor markets and higher education ecosystems in their communities. Research shows that increased wages—while positive for workers and their families—lead to enrollment declines of part-time students.1 Additional research suggests that as job openings in a given community increase, community college enrollment tends to decrease.2
Community college enrollment is also impacted by the higher education ecosystem in a given community. The perceived value of a community college depends, in part, on other educational opportunities students have access to. This means that policies and practices implemented by other higher education institutions impact community college enrollment. If, for example, a four-year university begins offering free-tuition programs, a nearby community college could face enrollment declines if it is unable to make tuition free. Community colleges cannot always anticipate—or address—broader trends in local higher education that impact their enrollment of adult students.