Covid-19 has affected all sectors of higher education, but none more than community colleges. The socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic landed most heavily on the lower-income families and communities of color that these institutions often serve, leading to some colleges’ losing as much as a quarter of their enrollments between the fall of 2019 and the fall of 2020.
Coming at the end of nearly a decade of gradual enrollment decline for many community colleges, this crisis has summoned an existential moment for two-year institutions, presenting them with huge challenges but also enormous opportunities.
What Community Colleges Need to Thrive identifies strategies and approaches forward-thinking leaders are using to tackle the sector's most pressing challenges and where they can play a larger role in higher ed.
