With its proximity to UTC, one of the largest student populations among Tennessee community colleges and plans for dorms on campus, Chattanooga State Community College likely will be a centerpiece of Gov. Phil Bredesen's new plan for the two-year college system.
Still, Chattanooga State administrators -- already talking about their hopes of opening some bachelor's degree programs in coming years -- need to keep their feet on the ground and focus on improving their graduation rate, currently one of the lowest in the Tennessee Board of Regents system, a senior adviser to the governor said.
"The governor has politely said 'I don't think four-year degrees at community colleges is the right approach,'" Will Pinkston said. "One of the things we have to do in higher education is not try to be everything to everyone. Perform your role and perform it well, and (community colleges) aren't doing that."
In 2008, Chattanooga State's six-year graduation rate was 23.6 percent, a figure that has improvemed little in the past four years.
Cleveland State Community College had a graduation rate of 32.7 percent, and the state community college average graduation rate in 2008 was 31 percent, according to the Tennessee Board of Regents.
The state's overall community college graduation rate has improved nearly 6 percent in the last four years, documents show.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has a six-year graduation rate of 42.2 percent and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville graduates 64.1 percent of its students, documents show.
Chattanooga State President Jim Catanzaro said the college's graduation rate doesn't fare as poorly when compared with other metropolitan community colleges with a diverse mix of students, such as Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis and Nashville State Technical Community College. In 2008, Southwest had a graduation rate of 18.3 percent and Nashville State had a graduation rate of 23.5 percent.
"Our graduation rates are strong," Dr. Catanzaro said. "Why then are the numbers not as high? We have rural students, Appalachian students. We have students that are inner-city students. It is a much more diverse population" than other two-year schools.
Joan Garrett has been a staff writer for the Times Free Press since August 2007. Before becoming a general assignment writer for the paper, she wrote about business, higher education and the court systems. She grew up the oldest of five sisters near Birmingham, Ala., and graduated with a master's and bachelor's degrees in journalism from the University of Alabama. Before landing her first full-time job as a reporter at the Times Free Press, she ...
Two things to consider with this news. First, every institution of higher education aspires to be more than they are. So dorms and a 4-yr degree fit right in. Second, you get what you pay for in this world.
On average, students at Chatt. St. score lower on the ACT than every 4-yr public school in TN except TSU. That's OK because community colleges were thought of as transition schools for some students wanting to go on. However, there are problems with community colleges offering 4-yr degrees. The major problem is that, in general, the standards of excellence are not the same.
Anecdote: I advised a freshman who transferred from Chatt. St. to my public 4-yr in TN regarding Spring 2010 courses. The student has essentially failed Calculus II at my school after making an A in Calculus I at Chatt. St. To his credit, he said his Cal. I wasn't up to snuff and he actually wants to repeat Cal. I at my school this spring. How I am supposed to advise him? The registration system won't let you repeat an A. Not all community college experiences are bad like this, but many are. I admit some 4-yr experiences even be this way, too. Still, there is more accountability.
40% of the credit hours at Chatt. St. are taught by part-timers. Some are great, some are not. It's hard to maintain the community college standards with adjuncts, much less the 4-yr school's standards. The adjuncts make bondservant wages, while the average c.c. faculty make less than 90% of what faculty at "peer" community colleges make. AND the peers have been a bit contrived to keep the salaries low.
We have serious problems. The wheels are coming off... I'm not throwing rocks at community colleges. I actually taught as a part-timer at one when I was finishing my graduate degree. What I saw 15 yrs ago scared (scares) me a lot about 2+2 programs.
Is there anybody out there thinking the same?
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