Washington Monthly - September/October 2022 - 38

environment, kids could log into school, get counted as present,
and then leave, without anyone monitoring whether they
were actually sitting and watching the class. The practitioners
expected post-high school college enrollments to drop and
continue dropping for some time.
Tania is a bubbly Latina student who reads Japanese
graphic novels in her spare time. In high school, she learned
what it would take to apply to and enroll in college. Initially,
she assumed that this wouldn't be something her family could
handle. Neither her immigrant parents nor her older siblings
had any postsecondary education. But Tania loved learning,
earned high grades, and forged close relationships with teachers.
She joined the National Honor Society, and volunteer
tutoring through the organization sparked her interest in a
helping profession, such as teaching or social work. She began
asking her high school teachers and her college counselor
about college admissions and scholarship money.
Mia waited for someone to
tell her how to transfer to the
University of Memphis.
The email with instructions
she expected from the
community college never came.
Her parents hadn't attended
college, so they couldn't help
her. So, she took a position
at Walmart, working
nights restocking shelves.
Her parents assumed a hands-off stance regarding her
education. Tania's mother, who has schizophrenia, mostly
stayed in bed; her father worked long hours. In Mexico, he had
left formal education after sixth grade and liked the idea of his
daughter going to college. It fulfilled his vision of the American
dream. Tania felt guilty about possibly leaving home but
delighted in the possibility of a new life chapter in a dorm.
In the spring of 2020, when Tania was in her junior year
of high school, education in America moved online, and she
lost contact with her college counselor and her teachers' direct
support, as did many students who could no longer chat
with faculty after class or struggled with Zoom. Meanwhile,
her family was falling deeper into debt. " You know, furniture,
rent, credit cards, the usual things you would be in debt for, "
she said. " My dad is struggling financially, and it just breaks
my heart. " Before long, Tania took a job making sandwiches at
Subway. She told her dad, " I want to help out. "
38 September/October 2022
Though she graduated from high school in 2021, she decided
to remain home and continue working. She hoped that
she would get to college eventually and that her initial, good
high school grades might still warrant admissions and scholarships.
But students who have not enrolled in college directly
from high school have always had difficulty getting back on
track. They become even less prepared for college-level course
work and tend to become saddled with competing obligations
like child care and other demands of home.
By spring 2021, overall enrollments at community colleges
clocked in nearly 10 percent lower than in the spring of
2020, more than double the losses at four-year colleges. At
SWTCC, enrollment fell 18 percent. Between the spring 2020
and fall 2020 semesters, half the African American male students
previously enrolled at SWTCC dropped out.
Students who graduated from community college earned
10 percent more than those who enrolled but left without
achieving their associate's degrees. Those who graduated became
more likely to find full-time jobs, compounding their
higher wages over time. Raising graduation rates would reduce
income inequality, bringing more people out of poverty.
Community colleges have become entry points to a bachelor's
degree, a sheepskin that moves the needle on economic
mobility even more significantly. Nearly half of students in
higher education are enrolled in community colleges; half of
all students receiving bachelor's degrees were previously enrolled
in community colleges, a proportion that has grown in
recent years.
But due to poor preparation, the conduit connecting
community colleges with four-year colleges has increasingly
appeared blocked. Though more high school graduates have
been entering higher education through community college,
a smaller proportion of those students have been achieving
bachelor's degrees, as more community college students have
dropped out. Two-thirds of all first-time, full-time community
college students have failed to obtain their associate's degrees
within three years. African American students like Linda
have suffered from shockingly low completion rates: Only
a quarter of first-time, full-time African American students
have earned associate's degrees in the same period.
In Memphis, Rod, an African American high school honors
student, intended to study auto maintenance at SWTCC to
prepare himself for jobs working with his hands, doing something
involving cars. He earned good grades in high school and
befriended several of his teachers. Nevertheless, Rod graduated
in 2019-before the pandemic-testing below college level
in English, math, and reading. Because his single mother was
raising five children on her own and needed his financial help,
he worked full-time over the summer before starting community
college and didn't participate in a bridge program as
Linda did. He therefore entered college even more behind. He
spent his entire first semester in remedial classes that did not
count for credit.
Rod is a consummate charmer, a holder of doors, and a
pronouncer of " ma'am " s. He passed his remedial courses on

Washington Monthly - September/October 2022

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