Community Colleges: Special Supplement to The 2008 Condition of Education

This must-read report was released recently by the US Department of Education and can be downloaded here. It is self-described as: "This Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2008 provides a descriptive profile of community colleges in the United States, examines the characteristics of students who entered community college directly from high school, and looks at rates of postsecondary persistence and attainment among community college students in general. It also compares the characteristics of these institutions and of the students who enroll in them with those of public and private 4-year colleges and universities." In a related article (may be password protected) in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Peter Schmidt notes:

Many students do not follow a carefully charted path through higher education but instead seem to feel their way—and, sometimes, lose it, a new federal report on community colleges suggests.

Many community-college students previously thought they would be going through four-year colleges, while others initially planned on earning two-year degrees but have since revised their plans to progress much further, the report says.