Originally posted in Spanish on Univision.com.
Juliette Pacheco was a young mother of three when she first stepped onto SUNY Westchester Community College’s campus. A first-generation college student, Juliette quickly felt nervous about her ability to keep up with her coursework while juggling a job, childcare, and the everyday challenges of living in New York. A sick babysitter or a delayed train could be the difference between attending class or falling behind. It didn’t take long before she seriously worried that she wouldn’t make it to graduation day — and with good reason: A staggering 70% of U.S. students who attend two-year community colleges don’t finish with a degree.
That statistic should alarm all of us. While elite universities tend to dominate the headlines, it’s community colleges that serve as a critical foundation of American higher education, enrolling more than 40% of all undergraduates. When nearly three out of four of those students leave without a diploma, we’re not just witnessing individual dreams denied — we’re witnessing systemic failure. And we need to take a hard look at why, especially when Hispanic students like Juliette make up 30% of community college enrollees.
It’s a stubborn challenge — but some schools have found inventive ways to tackle it head-on.
The City University of New York (CUNY) system, for example, had long struggled to get students to a successful graduation day. Twenty years ago, the three-year graduation rate for the CUNY system hovered around just 13%, significantly lower than other urban community college systems. So they decided to do something about it.
In 2007, CUNY instituted the Accelerated Studies in Academic Programs (ASAP) to help at-risk students stay on track. The program provides a broad range of wraparound services — everything from additional advisory support to tutoring to transportation benefits to subsidies for textbooks. This extra support, it turns out, goes a long way: Nonprofit research organization MDRC found that 40% of ASAP students made it to graduation day, compared to just 22% of the rest of the student body. Even more impressive? Six years post-graduation, ASAP alumni earned 11% more than those who didn’t receive such support.
During her first semester, Juliette overheard a few students talking about an ASAP program at her college. So she signed up — and, according to her, it changed the trajectory of her life. She graduated with a 3.8 GPA and a scholarship from Pepsi Co. to further pursue her education. She’s just one of the many success stories coming out of these kinds of support programs every year.
Providing attentive, personalized support may sound resource-intensive, and in some ways, it is. While the average community college advisor has 441 advisees, an ASAP advisor has just 150 and meets with their students at least twice a month at the start of their schooling, with frequent contact after that. That extra attention pays off — and not just for the students. ASAP returns three dollars of taxpayer money for every dollar invested. It also reduces the college’s cost-per-degree, with expert analysis showing that CUNY saves $6,500 per program graduate.
In other words: It makes sense for students, it saves money for taxpayers, and it strengthens our society. Best of all? It’s scalable.
At Arnold Ventures, we’re working to replicate CUNY ASAP’s success at community colleges across the country. In Colorado, we’ve partnered with Governor Jared Polis to implement similar programs at Lamar Community College and Colorado Mountain College. In North Carolina, we’re working with the entire community college system to build out ASAP programs statewide — a national first. Each program is tailored to meet the student population’s particular needs: Where CUNY may offer MTA cards, Colorado may offer monthly $50 vouchers for gas and groceries.
These are not extravagant investments. They’re evidence-based expenses for a program proven to unlock the potential of students like Juliette — deliver huge returns for students, their communities, and all of us.
Community college students have rightly identified education as the best path to the American Dream. When these vital institutions don’t function like they should, we are not only failing our students. We are failing the promise of America itself.
Together, we can do better. And we must. So, let’s fix our community college system — ASAP.
