The community college has been defined as “any not-for-profit institution regionally accredited to award the associate in arts or the associate in science as its highest degree” (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014, p. 5). In addition, a growing number of colleges are offering the community college baccalaureate degree (Bilsky, Neuhard, & Locke, 2012). These degrees are usually designed for working people who want to pursue higher education for employment advancement while still meeting other demands on their time (Bragg & Ruud, 2012). They are generally offered in fields where there are labor shortages (Bilsky et al., 2012), primarily in areas of business, education, healthcare, and information technology (McKinney, Scicchitano, & Johns, 2013). Many of the students enrolled in these programs are adults, and more colleges intend to offer the programs online to meet the needs of students (McKinney et al., 2013).
According to Cohen et al. (2014), the community colleges, or junior colleges as they were called, were first established in the early 1900’s, and enrollment grew throughout most of the century as the number of high school graduates increased and more graduates sought postsecondary education. Salomon-Fernández (2019) stated, “Community colleges were born out of a need to innovate the then-existing higher education model when the first college was founded in 1901” (p. 99), and they have continued to adapt over the years. In addition, they serve a range of students, from those still enrolled in high school to adults returning to upgrade their skills or seeking leisure courses.
Not all students at community colleges began their postsecondary education at a community college; a number of them began at a university and transferred back to a community college for a variety of reasons. “A growing proportion of the population served by community colleges engages in reverse transfer: they begin their college careers in a four-year institution but transfer to a community college prior to earning a degree” (Kalogrides & Grodsky, 2011, p. 853). A national dataset revealed that of the 44% of students who began at a 4-year institution but did not earn a degree, 10% transferred to a community college. Of these transfers, 26% earned an associate degree or certificate, and an additional 18% eventually received a bachelor’s degree or higher. Disadvantaged students were more likely to transfer down or drop out of postsecondary education. Reverse transfers earned more credits, which may have increased their job earnings, than did students who dropped out completely (Kalogrides & Grodsky, 2011).