Austin

CHS Forensics
NEG: Community Colleges 1
Block
Community colleges fail – no completion.

Brookings Institute 2009. Sara Goldrick-Rab, Douglas N Harris, Christopher Mazzeo, Gregory Kienzl. May.
“Transforming America’s Community Colleges.” Accessed 6/29/09.
<http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2009/0507_community_college_goldrick_rab/0507_c
ommunity_college_brief.pdf>

Higher educational attainment has stalled in the United States. Even as the share of U.S. high school
graduates who go on to college skyrocketed by 28 percentage points from 1972 to 1992, the share of those students
completing a degree inched upward by only three percentage points. As a result, at least 10 developed nations have
surpassed the United States in educational attainment, and our nation ranks even lower internationally on measures of
cognitive skills. Part of the erosion of America’s longstanding educational attainment advantage can be
explained by a heavy and growing reliance on community colleges. Only 1 in 10 students entering
community college in 2002 completed a two-year associate degree within three years.

Community colleges lack the resources to support greater demand - as more attend, solvency
dilutes.

Brookings Institute 2009. Sara Goldrick-Rab, Douglas N Harris, Christopher Mazzeo, Gregory Kienzl. May.
“Transforming America’s Community Colleges.” Accessed 6/29/09.
<http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2009/0507_community_college_goldrick_rab/0507_c
ommunity_college_brief.pdf>

Community colleges face particular financial challenges in helping their students to succeed.
Students today are likelier than ever before to choose to attend community college. Enrollment at
community colleges is rising twice as fast as at four-year colleges, and campuses in many states—
especially amid the economic downturn—are bursting at the seams. Notwithstanding their popularity, however,
community colleges see nearly half of their students fail to complete a credential of any kind within six
years of starting college. Research suggests that as their enrollments increase, colleges dilute the
amount of resources spent on students and instruction, which in turn contributes to low completion
rates.

The current community college system fails to provide for adequate student learning.

Brookings Institute 2009. Sara Goldrick-Rab, Douglas N Harris, Christopher Mazzeo, Gregory Kienzl. May.
“Transforming America’s Community Colleges.” Accessed 6/29/09.
<http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2009/0507_community_college_goldrick_rab/0507_c
ommunity_college_brief.pdf>

A new federal resources-for performance program will not succeed if it merely leads to an increase in
meaningless credentialing. Rather, it must be accompanied by a revitalized focus on student learning.
Unfortunately, community colleges have few resources to support the adoption of innovative practices
in curriculum, instruction, and student support. Competitive federal grant programs such as the Fund for
the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) have provided limited support for community colleges,
and awards have rarely been used strategically.
Austin
CHS Forensics
NEG: Community Colleges 2
Block
Inclusive grants available to poor now.

Department of Education 2008. The Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance. September. “Apply
to Succeed.” Accessed 6/29/09. <http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsfa/applytosucceed.pdf>

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) passed by Congress last year should encourage
community college students to apply for aid. For example, CCRAA reduced the penalty in federal
need analysis on students who work, potentially increasing eligibility for millions of students. Prior to
passage of the law, a dependent student whose parents earned $25,000 and who worked 30 to 40
hours per week would typically only qualify for a small Pell Grant at best. In 2009-10, the same
student will be eligible for a full Pell Grant.

Community colleges fail – minimal graduation rate.

Marklein 08. Mary Beth, Journalist USA Today. June 28. “US community colleges at a ‘turning point.’” USA
Today. Accessed 6/29/09. <http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-07-22-comcol-main_N.htm>

And yet, many of those who attend community college are far less successful. In the first six years
after enrolling in a community college, only 36% of students earn a certificate or an associate's or
bachelor's degree, according to an analysis of federal data by the Community College Research Center at Teachers
College, Columbia University in New York. And just 51% of freshmen attending two-year institutions return
for sophomore year, compared with a 69% national average for all public and private higher
education institutions, says 2007 data from non-profit ACT Inc.

Community colleges fail to decrease poverty – impoverished students rarely graduate.

Fitzpatrick 09. Laura Fitzpatrick, Journalist for Time Magazine. July 20. “Can Community Colleges Save the
US Economy?” Time. Accessed 7/19/09. <http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1909623,00.html>

To make that money, however, students like Nembhard need to get their degrees — and the statistics are
disheartening. Only 31% of community-college students who set out to get a degree complete it within
six years, whereas 58% of students at four-year schools graduate within that time frame. Students
from middle-class or wealthy families are nearly five times more likely to earn a college degree as
their poorer peers are. In 2007, 66% of white Americans ages 25 to 29 had completed at least some
college, compared with 50% of African Americans and 34% of Hispanics.
Austin
CHS Forensics
NEG: Community Colleges 3
Block
Poor graduation rates, fail to help troubled students

Viadero 09. Debra Viadero, Assistant Editor at Education Week. 9/1. “Community Colleges a
research puzzle.” Education Week. Accessed 9/5/09.
<http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/09/02/02comcolleges_ep.h29.html?
tkn=QXSFIfRtQbZSGKFWGhVzPDCBTYtLb9QzTbry >

Community colleges have abysmal graduation rates: Only one in 10 students who started community
college in 2002 had earned an associate’s degree three years later, according to a recent paper from
the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Six years after they start school, other studies show, half
of community college students have earned an associate’s degree or a certificate or transferred to a
four-year college.
Further, studies have only just begun to shed light on where the barriers are for students and how
colleges can help students overcome them.
“In the K-12 space, people are often frustrated by the state of data, the caliber of scholarship, and the
weak presence of reform agents,” said Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies at
the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. “They’re actually living in nirvana
compared to the higher education spaces.”