Nearly 40% of community college students don’t return for a second year, leaving the college without a degree or a certificate. Why are they leaving and can anything be done to prevent it?
A new report from the Community College Research Center (CCRC) looks at survey findings from stopped-out community college students to learn more about their experiences and their reasons for leaving college.
CCRC originally administered a survey in fall 2023 to 12,628 first-time-in-college students at four community colleges in California, Ohio, Maryland and Texas. They administered a follow-up survey in fall 2024 to the 4,515 respondents of that survey. Of the 2,834 individuals who responded to the follow-up, 648 said that they were no longer enrolled in their first institution – and 480 of those had left higher education altogether.
The report includes a dive into these 480 stopped-out students’ educational goals and expectations, their college experiences and the factors that contributed to their departure.
Goals and expectations
Most of the survey respondents entered college with clear goals and expectations.
When asked in their first semester about their goals, the majority of the 480 respondents (69%, or 332) entered community college with the goal of earning an associate degree. Another 16% wanted to earn a certificate.
And when asked what their highest lifetime educational goal was, 37% said a bachelor’s degree and 32% said a graduate degree, while 17% said their highest goal was an associate degree.
They also had high academic expectations in their first semester: 84% of former students indicated that they expected to complete all the classes they enrolled in, and 78% anticipated their average letter grade to be between “A” and “B.”
Measuring their experiences
In a later survey, respondents reacted to their college experiences with peers, in courses and programs, with faculty and in advising.
Fewer than a quarter of respondents (24%) felt a definite sense of community in their first year, but a majority reported that they were truly or somewhat interested in most of their classes.
They mostly had positive perceptions of faculty. Most respondents felt either strongly (46%) or felt slightly or somewhat (46%) that instructors cared about their well-being. The majority also felt their voice mattered in class and that instructors would notice their absence. But only 39% of respondents noted it was “very or completely true” that they reached out to faculty or staff for help.
A quarter of respondents also never met with an advisor in their first year, while 59% saw an advisor one to two times. Nearly two-thirds (63%) didn’t know who their advisor was.
Similarly, 73% answered “no” when asked if a staff member was aware of their academic and career intentions, and 82% of respondents said the college did not meet their expectations for support.
Why they left
Most respondents indicated that more than one factor contributed to them stopping out.
While 45% noted financial hardship as a major reason, there were other external reasons (lack of time and family obligations), stress-related factors and institutional barriers that led to them ultimately leaving college.
For example, on the list of 18 potential reasons for leaving, 39% selected “feeling unsuccessful academically,” followed by “stress related to being a college student” (33%) and “change in career goals” (32%).
Institutional barriers that contributed to these former students stopping out included “issues with financial aid” (22%) “difficulty with scheduling or attending courses” (21%).
Only 7% indicated they left because they didn’t see the value of college.
“While some reasons for departure might be more difficult for colleges to address, most students’ decision to leave is multifaceted — so there might be opportunities for colleges to intervene to influence students’ trajectories prior to their departure,” say the report’s authors.
Strategies to help
The researchers note that if a college addresses one issue, such as offering more flexible scheduling, it could help eliminate another factor, such as transportation or childcare issues. Or, creating more of a community on campus could help reduce the stress related to college.
Four strategies noted in the report could do the most to improve students’ experiences in college and address some of the reasons they have for leaving college:
- Assist students with financial planning
- Foster students’ confidence and academic self-efficacy
- Ensure that students receive ongoing support for program choice
- Bolster students’ relationships within the college
Plans to return
The good news is that most of these former students (78%) plan to return to college. Another 12% hope to enroll at a different college, with 10% saying they have permanently left college.
Even with plans to return to college, 31% of respondents said that leaving college when they did was “likely the best” choice, and another 15% said it “was the best” decision for them. That leaves 54% of the former students expressing less certainty about their decision.
This potentially reflects “the non-linear paths that community college students often take toward their goals, where competing demands and life circumstances can lead to enrollment decisions that may appear counterintuitive to long-term aspirations,” the report says.
