Most community college students say they want to end up with a four-year degree. Few actually complete that dream.
A 2020 report from the Illinois Board of Higher Education [IBHE] and Illinois Community College Board noted Illinois led the nation in bachelor’s degree completion rates among community college transfer students, with nearly 54% completing their degree within six years.
A new report from the Partnership for College Completion offsets that encouraging number with data that show many more community college students never make the transfer.
“Seventy-nine percent of Illinois community college students enroll with the intention of transferring but only 35% actually transfer, and only 20% graduate with a bachelor’s degree,” said the report.
Heartland Community College President Keith Cornille said the fix will require more good communication between community colleges and four-year institutions.
"As a state, it's going to be imperative that we sit down together as higher education communities and say what are those identified barriers that are obstructions for individuals to move forward, and start to try to address them," said Cornille.
The 2020 IBHE report cited the 1993 Illinois Articulation Initiative as a model other states use to help arriving transfer students engage with their new four-year institutions. The networks that agreement promote are still in development. For instance, Heartland has long had a close working relationship with Illinois State University, said Cornille and is crafting even closer ties.
“We just signed two agreements in the last couple of months, one with Millikin University [in Decatur] a guaranteed articulation agreement, and then one with Illinois State University for an online business program,” said Cornille.
As a higher education system, though, there remain gaps because some courses do not transfer and the requirements of majors in receiving institutions often mean transfer students have to put in additional work.
“Illinois graduates who transferred were enrolled for 20% longer than those who didn’t … bachelor’s degree completers who started at an Illinois community college attempted, on average, nine more credits than their peers who started at a public four-year institution,” said the Partnership report in April.
Extra costs from application fees and extra coursework often discourage students from completing a degree, the report said.
“Illinois graduates who transferred take out 38% more debt than those who graduated from their starting institution. This is likely exacerbated by students taking extra credits,” said the report.
Those factors tend to be higher barriers for students from underserved populations. There often are procedural and bureaucratic differences between sending and receiving institutions which take time for students to resolve. Cornille said both institutions should have responsibility for resolving system hitches.
“With Illinois State, for example, we have a strong relationship with the financial aid departments continuously talking about how we serve students because some of the students that are enrolled at Illinois State are also taking classes at Heartland and vice versa, so it is essential that those financial aid offices are talking together,” said Cornille.
The Partnership noted “holistic student supports at both sending and receiving institutions are often lacking, and existing resources are often set up for “traditional” students and do not function as well for students who are older or returning to school after taking time away.”
Cornille said Heartland’s relationship with ISU, its main transfer partner, goes that deep.
“Whether its financial aid or other types of systems that are helping students with the orientation processes to make it more seamless, more comfortable for them, those things are happening between Heartland and Illinois State currently," said Cornille.
Heartland has, in recent years, also moved to address the financial constraints often faced by on-traditional students and students seeking to transfer as they balance work and family life obligations while attending school.
"In the past number of years, we've reduced the number of loans by 60% — of students receiving loans from our college — because we have found other ways in order to say look, we don't want you to take loans because we don't believe it's good for you in the long term," said Cornille.
HCC, he said, has increasingly turned to grants, scholarships, and other forms of student financial assistance.
The Partnership noted, as a higher-ed system, state aid has failed to keep up with increased prices leading to enrollment declines, even before the distorting effects on data from the COVID pandemic are factored in.
Heartland has bucked that trend as well. Cornille noted spring graduation topped 900 students, and he expects summer and fall graduations this year will help the college break its full year graduation record of about 1,600 set in 2024.
Four-year degrees
Gov. JB Pritzker has backed a plan to give community colleges authority to grant four-year degrees. It hasn't passed the General Assembly yet, but 24 other states already have the provision.
Cornille said deciding whether to offer a four-year degree should be simple by looking at what nearby four-year institutions already do.
"Does a program exist already? And if it does, we shouldn't be doing it," said Cornille.
He said community colleges and four-year institutions should talk to each other about community needs, adding it's not about competition, it's about serving students, and the workforce needs of the local community.
He said if community colleges gain authority to grant bachelor’s degrees, Heartland would look at some potential offerings, though probably not as many as a community college in a rural area would entertain.
HCC is close to ISU, IWU, and Bradley University in Peoria. Cornille said the travel distance to existing four-year institutions should affect how community colleges make decisions on new programs because many community college students are tied to a locale through work or family obligations.
