DIVIDED WE FAIL:
Improving Completion and Closing Racial Gaps in California’s Community Colleges
Regional Profile—INLAND EMPIRE
Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino
The future of California depends heavily on increasing the number of Californians with certificates, associate
degrees, and bachelor’s degrees. Educational attainment in California has been declining with each younger
generation – a statistic that bodes poorly for the state’s economic competitiveness.
Divided We Fail is a report that tracked more than a quarter of a million students (255,253) who entered a
California Community College in 2003-04 over six years and analyzed their progress and outcomes by major
racial/ethnic population. Analyses were restricted to “degree-seekers” (students believed to be seeking a
certificate, associate degree, or bachelor’s degree), defined as all new students enrolling in more than 6 credits
in the first year.
In California, too many students fail to complete community college:
• Six years after enrolling, 70% of degree-seeking students had not completed a certificate or degree
and had not transferred to a university.
• 75-80% of Latino and black degree-seeking students did not complete.
• Only 23% of degree seekers transferred to a university, 11% earned an associate degree, and only
5% earned a certificate.
Key Findings for the Inland Empire Region
(21,669 degree-seeking students)
•
The overall completion rate of degree-seeking community college students in the Inland Empire region
was 30%, similar to the rate for the state as a whole.
•
The share of degree-seeking community college students in the Inland Empire region transferring to a
university was 20%, among the lowest in the state.
•
Less than 25% of black transfer students in the Inland Empire enrolled in a California State
University or the University of California.
•
12% of Inland Empire students earned an associate degree, similar to the state as a whole.
•
The share of students earning a certificate in the Inland Empire region, 6%, was slightly higher than the
statewide rate.
•
17% of transfer students in the Inland Empire region transferred to a for-profit university, the
highest rate in California. About a quarter of black (26%) and Latino (23%) transfer students enrolled
in the for-profit sector, almost twice as high as their white and Asian-Pacific Islander peers.
Divided We Fail
1
Inland Empire Regional Profile
March 2011
Milestone Attainment and Completion within 6 Years
California Community College (CCC) System and Inland Empire
100%
90%
CCC
Inland Empire
80%
70%
60%
50%
56
40%
61
54
60
40
30%
37
20%
31
15
10%
0%
Retained to
2nd Year
12
12+ College- 30+ College- Completed
Level Credits Level Credits
Transfer
Curriculum
5
6
Completed
Certificate
11
Completion
White
Asian-Pacific Islander
Black
Latino
90%
80%
70%
60%
53
63
60
69
55
52
47
30%
57
39
20%
46
29
34 35
35
10%
0%
20
Milestone Attainment and Completion Within 6 Years
by Race/Ethnicity in the Inland Empire Region
100%
40%
12
30
Completed Transferred to
Overall
Associate
University Completion
Degree
Intermediate Milestones
50%
23
12
Retained to
2nd Year
12+ CollegeLevel Credits
30+ CollegeLevel Credits
19 6
10
Completed
Transfer
Curriculum
7 7 5 6
Completed
Certificate
13 15 10 10
Completed
Associate
Degree
Intermediate Milestones
24 22 22
30
24
15
Transferred to
University
Overall
Completion
Completion
Racial/Ethnic Distribution of Degree-Seekers Compared to “Completers”
in Inland Empire Colleges
Other
1%
API
8%
Other
1%
Black
12%
Black
12%
API
9%
White
43%
Latino
37%
Divided We Fail
White
49%
Latino
29%
Degree-Seekers
N=21,669
Completers
N=6,522
2
Inland Empire Regional Profile
March 2011
100%
Most Transfer Students in the Inland Empire Have Not Completed Two Years of Credits
90%
Completed Transfer Curriculum
Completed Associate Degree
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
44
36
36
30
41
29
24
10%
0%
All Transfers
White
18
API
35
25
Black
Latino
Transfer Destination of Inland Empire Students Varies by Race/Ethnicity
White Transfer Students
Out-of-State
Private 9%
ForProfit
14%
API Transfer Students
Out-of-State
Private 9%
CSU
33%
Out-of-State
Public 20%
Black Transfer Students
ForProfit
26%
Out-ofState Private
15%
Divided We Fail
CSU
36%
Out-ofState Public
12%
In-State
Private
17%
UC
7%
In-State
Private
17%
ForProfit
11%
UC
14%
Latino Transfer Students
CSU
17%
ForProfit
23%
UC 5%
CSU
42%
Out-of-State
Private 4%
In-State
Private 12%
Out-of-State
Public 9%
Out-of-State
Public 26%
3
In-State
Private
15%
UC
8%
Inland Empire Regional Profile
March 2011
Completion Rates Vary Depending on Students’ Enrollment Patterns
Students who followed certain enrollment patterns did much better. Passing college level English and Math
within 2 years and accumulating at least 20 credits in the first year increase student chances of success. As
examples, 48% of students who took and passed college-level English within two years completed a
certificate, degree or transfer within six years compared to only 20% who did not; 51% of students who
passed college level Math within 2 years succeeded (vs. 21% who did not); and 60% of students who
accumulated at least 20 credits in the first year succeeded (vs. 22% who did not). Unfortunately, few
Inland Empire students follow these successful patterns (see below).
Too Few Inland Empire Community College Students Follow Successful Enrollment Patterns
100%
Passed College-Level English within 2 Years
Passed College-Level Math within 2 Years
Earned 20+ Credits within 1 Year
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
36
Degree-Seekers
in Inland Empire
42
39
33
31
23
22
10%
0%
39
31
White
API
35
26
20
29
19
16
Black
Latino
Divided We Fail: Improving Completion and Closing
Racial Gaps in California’s Community Colleges is
a report by the Institute for Higher Education
Leadership & Policy at California State University,
Sacramento and is sponsored by The Campaign for
College Opportunity.
The full report can be accessed at
www.csus.edu/ihelp
www.collegecampaign.org
Divided We Fail
4
Inland Empire Regional Profile
March 2011