Success rates for full-time community college students look brighter, according to data from the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA).
Colleges participating in VFA tracked students who entered college in fall 2010. After six years, median completion and persistence rates were 55 percent and 59 percent, respectively, for students who started full-time. The rates include students who graduated, transferred or were still enrolled in the sixth academic year.
This is an excerpt from the current issue of AACC’s Community College Journal.
“This is in stark contrast to completion rates compiled using traditional sources to gauge student success at community colleges,” says AACC in its February DataPoints publication.
The federal IPEDS graduation rate for community colleges is 25.4 percent. Even when transfer and students still enrolled are factored, the rate only reaches 56 percent over the same period.
“We’ve long known that the VFA metrics are a better measurement of student progress and outcomes at community colleges. Now we have the data to back that up,” says AACC President and CEO Walter Bumphus.
About 200 community colleges participate in VFA, which is an AACC-member benefit.
