Washington Monthly - September/October 2022 - 39

the first try and quickly found positions at local warehouse
jobs that paid about $15 an hour. By his second semester, feeling
like he was wasting time in college, he downshifted from
four to two classes. By the end of his second year of college,
he had lost motivation to continue his education. He never
recovered from his initial lack of preparation and the time
his remedial classes, which offered no credit but were nevertheless
required, added to his load.
During the pandemic, colleges and college students received
substantial aid from the federal CARES Act (March
2020), the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental
Appropriations Act (December 2020), and the American Rescue
Plan Act (March 2021). Still, four-year colleges received
nearly twice the aid of community colleges on a per-pupil
basis. This was because the CARES Act funding formula penalized
institutions educating part-time students, predominantly
community colleges. The Biden administration's subsequent
American Rescue Plan removed the penalty, doubling
the funding community colleges collected from the
federal government. State lawmakers, for their part, have
long funded community colleges at lower levels than fouryear
public colleges. Though allocations for community college
students grew over recent years, they still received less
money overall, and fewer resources for academic and student
support.
Shortly before dropping out of SWTCC, Rod received a
bill for $230. He hadn't known that when his enrollment fell
below part-time status, he would have to repay a pro rata
share of the Pell Grant aid he received. Moreover, by dropping
out within the first two-thirds of a semester, he became ineligible
for Pell support. He would have to repay another portion
of the grant money.
C
ollege readiness entails not just academic skills but also
help seeking, task management, interpersonal communication,
problem solving, study strategies, and personal
decision making. It also encompasses understanding
how to register for classes, seek advice and counseling, solicit
financial aid, and ask for career development assistance. Deficits
in preparedness in these areas cast their shadow far across
the college experience. While plenty of children growing up in
middle-class families lag in these areas, they often have the
advantage of parents who went to college and know how to
negotiate bureaucracies.
Last spring, Rod's SWTCC classmates, Tracy-the Latina
student who had been helping her younger siblings and cousins
during the school day-and Mia-a mixed-race student
who ranked fifth in her high school class-graduated with
their associate's degrees. With the help of the bridge program
in which Linda participated, both tested out of remedial
courses and avoided wasting college time in non-creditbearing
classes.
Tracy intended to earn a bachelor's degree to become
an interior designer. Still, at SWTCC, she majored in general
studies, thinking that more of her credits would transfer to a
four-year college that way. This was not exactly true, particularly
given the number of prerequisite course requirements in
the interior design bachelor's major and its onerous subjectarea
credit requirements.
Tracy thought she had applied to transfer to the University
of Memphis and gained admission so she could start
classes the following fall, but somehow the steps she needed
to take to enroll seemed murky and difficult to complete. She
made an appointment to speak virtually with an adviser, but
she had to miss the meeting to help with family chores. Her
mother had lost her job; without citizenship, she couldn't get
a driver's license, and the multigenerational household depended
on Tracy to drive her rickety, used car to errands and
appointments. Then a new company bought the house her
family rented and told them they had to move out within the
month. " We've been trying to get settled, " Tracy explained
Underprepared community
college students desperately
need more and better
counseling and guidance to
navigate the complicated
choices they face. Right now,
the onus is entirely on the
student to maneuver through
their institution. They're
given a remedial class, but
little or no help beyond that.
to me. " The younger kids had to change schools. Then my car
wasn't working. It's a journey, I guess. If I'm able to help out,
then I'm going to help out. And [for college] I don't really understand
what I need to do next. "
Mia was also waiting for someone to tell her how to transfer
to the University of Memphis. She had started community
college determined to become a therapist, but the path to the
necessary degree looked more and more uncertain. Her parents
hadn't attended college, so they couldn't help her with
the transfer process. Mia seemed to expect the community
college to email her a list of specific instructions, but no such
email ever arrived.
She decided, therefore, to find herself a job instead,
but she appeared unsure of how to do that either, and even
more uncertain of how to find work related to her new associate's
degree in psychology. Rod, meanwhile, told her the local
Walmart was hiring. She took a position there, working nights
restocking shelves.
Washington Monthly 39
Washington Monthly - September/October 2022

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