Washington Monthly - September/October 2022 - 35
Degree of difficulty: At Southwest Tennessee Community College, only about 10 percent of students studying full-time graduate within three
years and little more than 5 percent transfer to four-year colleges.
THE MEMPHIS POSTCOVID
COMMUNITY
COLLEGE BLUES
In the best of times, poor students struggle against long
odds to graduate-and these are not the best of times.
By Jodie Adams Kirshner
I
n late spring 2019, Linda enrolled in her freshman year
at Southwest Tennessee Community College (SWTCC),
a public, two-year, open-admissions college in Memphis.
The school charges in-state tuition of roughly $4,500 a year,
but it is free for students, such as Linda, who are eligible for
full Pell Grants. The modern campus has a predominantly African
American student body. And Linda, a Black returning
student in her mid-50s, looked forward to the fall semester.
Full of ideas for starting her own business, she had been working
as a home health aide-mainly for Alzheimer's patients,
whom she joked around with and seemed to love-but now
the determined student had what she called a " game plan. "
" I want to work with kids and help them through problems
at home the school system ignores before they get to a point
where they fight their teachers and the schools put them out, "
Linda told me. " I want to be the one to make a difference. "
Linda tested below college level in math, English, and
community college, Linda
reading. But before entering
learned about a free summer bridge program run by a local
nonprofit, which coordinated with SWTCC and offered condensed
instruction in those subjects, followed by another
round of testing. If Linda passed, the program could help her
avoid remedial courses that didn't earn her credits. It also offered
opportunities. She met a program coach who could help
Washington Monthly 35
Lance Murphey
Washington Monthly - September/October 2022
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