This data note presents results from qualitative interviews with Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) students in Washington state. We use in-depth, longitudinal interview data to describe three CCB students' experiences prior to CCB-program enrollment and through their programs to graduation and employment. The three students we profile credit…

Overall, too few students are completing two-year college. Those who complete are still starting off unequally. About one-third of students earning academic degrees do not transfer, but rather go directly to work and find their degree has little value in the labor market. Research suggests they could have benefitted from having marketable skills…

Increasing college students' exposure to global contexts and improving their intercultural competency remain challenging educational objectives, especially at the community college level. Fortunately, the recent shift in higher education from study abroad opportunities toward so-called "internationalization at home" initiatives, where…

Research shows that faculty, staff, and administrators at institutions of higher learning have a fundamental responsibility to create a safe and effective learning environment for returning military combat veterans. Studies of student veterans have shown that combat veterans have both unique strengths and barriers that must be taken into account…

Partnerships between community colleges and employers to create apprenticeships have been around for decades. These traditionally have covered fields like the building trades--electrical, construction and others--as well as heavy manufacturing like the automobile industry. Inspired partly by a new federal apprenticeship consortium--and $175…

Washington's community and technical colleges (CTCs) play an important role in producing baccalaureate degree graduates in the state through the applied baccalaureate (AB) degree. The key policy goals of the AB degree in Washington state are to increase educational attainment for students and meet employer demand. Compared to the traditional…

This issue of "Policy Insights" provides a review of the past five years of the cost and value of higher education, which have gained increased policymaker, consumer, and media attention. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) has worked with four of its member states (Hawai'i, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) to…

The nature of the American academic workforce has fundamentally shifted over the past several decades. Whereas full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty were once the norm, more than two-thirds of the professoriate in non-profit postsecondary education is now comprised of non-tenure-track faculty. New hires across all institutional types are now…

According to the Geneseo Migrant Center, 1 million to 3 million migrant workers leave their homes each year to work in agricultural fields, many coming to the United States from homes in Mexico and Latin America. The Pew Hispanic Center recently reported that one in four U.S. farm workers is an unauthorized immigrant, meaning they lack either a…

The emerging and expanding green economy has the potential to create not just jobs, but career opportunities across the United States as green manufacturing, green products, and green services fuel demand for workers at all skill levels. Community colleges are leading the way in defining and addressing these opportunities. They are: developing…

The nation's 1,200 community colleges are well positioned to strengthen the workforce of one of America's most critical sectors--health care. They can provide training and credentialing for incumbent workers in health care and to prepare new workers to succeed in and meet the workforce demands for this sector--expanding individual opportunity and…

How did Washington create a clear organizational structure that assigns responsibility for each aspect of transfer policy to the group that is best suited to manage it (Kisker, Wagoner, and Cohen, 2011)? In this chapter, the authors will introduce the agencies, organizations, and entities that have played a key role in gathering information,…

This publication welcomes students attending one of the American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC's) international fairs during Fall 2007 in Jakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Hong Kong and Macau, China; and Seoul, Korea. AACC holds these tours to acquaint international students in Asia with the benefits of…

Each year more than 572,500 international students enroll in more than 3,300 colleges and universities in the United States. Currently, about 84,000 of these students attend community colleges. Why do so many international students choose to pursue higher education in the United States? First, U.S. colleges and universities welcome and value…

The "Horizons" project features model programs, national data collection and dissemination, and an information clearinghouse. In addition, "Horizons" provides professional development opportunities and technical assistance through regional workshops on service learning and civic responsibility, chief academic officer summits,…