DIVIDED WE FAIL:
Improving Completion and Closing Racial Gaps in California’s Community Colleges
Regional Profile—CENTRAL COAST
Counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura
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 Central Coast Region
(12,857 degree-seeking students)
•
At 38%, the overall completion rate of degree-seeking community college students in the Central Coast
region, while still low, was higher than in any other region.
•
The share of degree-seeking community college students in the Central Coast region transferring to a
university was 28%. Black students were more likely to transfer than their Asian-Pacific Islander or Latino
peers, but nearly 1 in 5 black transfer students enrolled in a for-profit college (19%).
•
Only 27% of black transfer students in the Central Coast enrolled in a California State University or
the University of California.
•
14% of Central Coast students earned an associate degree, slightly higher than the state rate.
•
The share of students earning a certificate in the Central Coast region, 5%, was the same as the
statewide rate.
•
While the Central Coast generally had slightly higher rates of completion than the state, lower rates of
success for blacks and Latinos resulted in them making up a smaller share of completers (24%) than
they did of incoming degree-seekers (37%).
Divided We Fail
1
Central Coast Regional Profile
April 2011
Milestone Attainment and Completion within 6 Years
California Community College (CCC) System and Central Coast Region
100%
CCC
Central Coast
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
61
57
56
64
43
40
30%
20%
15
10%
0%
Retained to
2nd Year
18
12+ College- 30+ College- Completed
Level Credits Level Credits
Transfer
Curriculum
5
5
Completed
Certificate
Completed Transferred to
Overall
Associate
University Completion
Degree
Intermediate Milestones
Completion
Milestone Attainment and Completion Within 6 Years
by Race/Ethnicity in the Central Coast Region
100%
White
Asian-Pacific Islander
Black
Latino
90%
80%
70%
71 71
60%
50%
60 59
40%
61
51 53
52
48 49
40
30%
20%
46
37
33
22 20
10%
0%
23
14
11
38
31
28
Retained to
2nd Year
12+ CollegeLevel Credits
30+ CollegeLevel Credits
12 12
5 5 4 4
Completed
Transfer
Curriculum
Completed
Certificate
15
24
21 14 12
Completed
Associate
Degree
Intermediate Milestones
31
40 38
23
15
Transferred to
University
Overall
Completion
Completion
Racial/Ethnic Distribution of Degree-Seekers Compared to “Completers”
in Central Coast Colleges
Black
3%
Other
1%
Black
3%
API
8%
Latino
34%
API
10%
White
53%
Latino
21%
Degree-Seekers
N=12,857
Divided We Fail
Other
1%
White
66%
Completers
N=4,828
2
Central Coast Regional Profile
April 2011
Most Transfer Students in the Central Coast Have Not Completed Two Years of Credits
100%
90%
Completed Transfer Curriculum
Completed Associate Degree
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
46
44
20%
35
29
All Transfers
White
30
29
24
10%
0%
53
52
46
API
Black
Latino
Transfer Destination of Central Coast Students Varies by Race/Ethnicity
White Transfer Students
Out-of-State
Private 10%
API Transfer Students
Out-of-State
Private 8%
ForProfit
6%
CSU
36%
Out-ofState Public
23%
In-State
Private
11%
In-State
Private
12%
Black Transfer Students
Out-of-State
Private 13%
Out-ofState Public
30%
Divided We Fail
CSU
38%
Out-ofState Public
18%
UC
14%
ForProfit
19%
For-Profit 5%
UC
19%
Latino Transfer Students
Out-of-State
Private 5%
CSU
22%
ForProfit
13%
CSU
46%
Out-of-State
Public 12%
UC 5%
In-State
Private
11%
In-State
Private 10%
3
UC
13%
Central Coast Regional Profile
April 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, 58% of students who took and passed college-level English within two years completed a
certificate, degree or transfer within six years compared to only 23% who did not; 62% of students who
passed college level Math within 2 years succeeded (vs. 25% who did not); and 68% of students who
accumulated at least 20 credits in the first year succeeded (vs. 25% who did not). Unfortunately, few
Central Coast students follow these successful patterns (see below).
Too Few Central Coast 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%
41
20%
48
34
39
30
45
40
34
38
34
28
10%
0%
Degree-Seekers
in Central Coast
White
API
32
23
Black
26
22
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
Central Coast Regional Profile
April 2011