Based on a recent survey, this issue of "DataPoints" finds that work, expenses and family issues are the top three challenges to success cited by community college students. A breakdown of those categories shows the specific hurdles.

Community colleges across the country have created innovative, data-informed programs that are models for educating underprepared students, engaging traditionally underserved students, and helping students from all backgrounds succeed. However, because most of these programs have limited scope, the field now has pockets of success rather than…

After reviewing related research, this paper uses National Longitudinal Survey data to examine the impact of college students' in-school work on their employment and earnings after college. Empirical evidence suggests that part-time on-campus work (up to 27.5 hours weekly) positively affects post-college earnings, but not employment. (12…