The lack of loan availability to community college students is not a deterent to enrolling. As an individual who has worked in community colleges for 31 years, and one who was a student who borrowed funds to go to a four-year school, I do not see a need for our college to make federal loans available for our students.

North Carolina has the third lowest community college tuition in the nation. Students eligible for full Pell grants are able to pay tuition, purchase books, and still have funds remaining to help with commuting and living expenses. In addition, our Foundation guarantees no student will be denied an education because of lack of funds.

The results of the study cited reach a conclusion not validated from the data presented. It is a shame that “researchers” are able to reach erroneous conclusion which then make media headlines for sensational journalism.

Martin Nadelman, President at Alamance Community College, at 8:20 am EDT on April 17, 2008

One size does not fit all.

As an FAO who at one point spent eleven years in a three campus community college system, I would like to say for the record that the authors of the “research” have done a grave disservice to community colleges and their students.

Further, it seems as though those folks associated with the research are oblivious to the current state of education loans over the past several years.

I would like to share an example; I worked at a CC that had three campuses. The three campuses were NOT under one roof with one college code, one campus based allocation and one FISAP.

The FAO at each campus faced differing student demographics, funding levels, staffing levels, etc. Each FAO was committed to providing the best FA program tailored as best as possible for their students.

One campus was in Direct Lending. One Campus was in FFELP. The third campus was in FFELP but sat out for three years because two of the three students who borrowed Stafford loans one year went into default, hence a 66% default rate.

It is a shame, as NASFAA suggests, that those folks responsible for this report only glossed over the surface results and did not attempt to understand what was going on before they released their report.

I hope they are beginning to understand and will follow up with a second more in depth report.

R.F., at 11:50 am EDT on April 17, 2008

Loans for Communtiy College Students

I have been saying for years community colleges do a disservice to students by not offering low-interst federal student loans as an option to pay for college. When you take a good look at the cost of attending a community college it is apparent the COA is similar to the state university in the same area. The only real difference is the tuition costs. It’s not just about tuition. We somehow expect community college students to live on the little grant money and work there way through school and are OK with university students to borrow and go fulltime and be more successful. To me it is better for a student to borrow so they can work less, and be successful and graduate earlier. They then can get into the workforce faster and start earning. When you take a closer look at this, they borrow, get out of school faster, start earning a salary, then pay back the loan. Keep in mind by graduating in 2-3 years from a community college versus 4-5 years — they have less debt. You then start earning a salary 2-3 years before those who stay 4-6 years so you actually are ahead financially.

Also, keep in mind federal student loans have many debt relief options when you have a economic hardship or are unemployed. What other loan or credit card offers our alumni these options? I am all for opening up student loans to communtiy college students, counseling them on success and their responsibilities, and making them academically successful to graduate in 2-3 years.

We have an obligation to ethically assist students in seeking the best funding for access to higher education and I will never lose sight of this.

I also believe that financial literacy, default prevention, and earlier degree completion can be achieved with an intentional strategy for a financial literacy program, default prevention plan, and retention program on campus.

Bradley Honious, Director, at 1:25 pm EDT on April 17, 2008

Deborah, thank you for steering me in the right direction. Although I still believe that there are problems with lumping public community colleges in with technical-vocational postsecondary adult programs, I was missing the fact that the latter ARE accredited — either nationally or by speciality.

This also came as a shock to me, since it was like discovering a network of specialized community colleges operating under my nose without knowing about it. Their failure to offer their students federally backed student loans is a matter of concern.

Observing the data presented for Florida shows a low non-participation rate, largely due to the sheer massivity of the public 2 yr community college system which offers such access to its students.

Those technical centers not participating typically have a different history and clientele, having originated with the school districts addressing the vocational-technical fraction of their student populations.

Institutional history of these techical centers may account for their lower rates of participation. It is therefore likely that a different strategy will be needed for them to participate. For example, the 4 participating centers in FL appear to be tightly coupled with very large community colleges, whereas the others are not.

As many scholars have explained, community colleges typically service diverse populations: those seeking to transfer to 4 yr institutions, and those with a vocational-technical orientation, which has lower status and prestige than the former (Labaree, Brint and Karabel, Dougherty).

On some campuses, these two populations are actually segregated, which reinforces their differences. In these cases, the lack of participation seems to be associated with lower status, which can also limit the ability to initiate new programs. Again, strategy developed with status challenges in mind could prove effective.

Disproportionate nonparticipation among minorities may also have a social stratification component that would need to be addressed.

There are, it seems, a fair number of nationally or specialized accredited technical centers that are proprietary, and would also be able to offer their students access to federally guaranteed loans, not discussed in the report.

Glen S. McGhee, Dir., at Florida Higher Education Accountability Project, at 9:50 pm EDT on April 17, 2008