Pew: 'Mixed success' at Community College of Philadelphia

Community College of Philadelphia has had "mixed success" educating its students, though its tuition is far above the median for similar institutions - and higher than those of all other community colleges in the region, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Pew found that the school's graduation rate was no better than about average, and in some cases was below those of its peers. The college also falls short in employee training programs, serves a smaller percentage of city residents than peer schools, and has failed to meet some standards set by the agency that accredits colleges and Pennsylvania's Board of Nursing, Pew researchers said in the 56-page report, released Wednesday.

On the positive side, the school's African American and Asian students graduate at higher rates than their counterparts at peer schools, and the college graduated a record 1,993 students in 2013-14, up from 1,602 in 2007-08, the report found.

Student retention - the rate at which students stay enrolled - also was up. And students required to take remedial courses upon matriculating - about 70 percent of the student body - were more likely to finish the courses than at peer schools.

"The college's ambitions for improvement are high, but the school in past years has not undertaken the kind of sweeping changes that some other community colleges have mounted," wrote Thomas Ginsberg, the report's author.

Pew analyzed data from third-party databases and compared the college with about 200 schools nationwide in three peer groups: those in large cities, those with high percentages of low-income and minority students, and those in cities that have a high concentration of colleges.

Community College president Donald "Guy" Generals, who has run the 34,000-student college for less than a year, called the report "pretty fair and balanced." He acknowledged challenges, which he said the college was addressing.

The college said in April it would offer free tuition to hundreds of recent Philadelphia high school graduates from low-income families. It is also hiring more advisers to help students and elevating workforce development programs. The college has created a new position: vice president for workforce and economic innovation.

He said the college would also aim to add more international students, a strategy used by other schools to attract higher-tuition-paying prospects.

"We recognize that we, as well as most of the colleges in the country, need to do better," Generals said.

The community college has faced challenges in recent years. Two years ago, its board of trustees dismissed longtime president Stephen Curtis, who drew criticism as contract negotiations with the faculty union dragged on. Six months previously, in October 2012, Mayor Nutter had appointed himself and key aides to the college's trustee board in a move to gain more control.

Each year, the college enrolls the most incoming freshmen in the city.

"It's in an important position in this city," Ginsberg said, "and it's well positioned to make higher education accessible."

But with financial aid from the state and city waning, the college has become more expensive. Tuition in 2012-13 - the most recent year for which comparisons were available - was higher than that of community colleges in two of the nation's most expensive cities, New York and San Francisco, the report said. For the most recent year, tuition and fees totaled $5,550. Generals said the school did not raise tuition last year and was not planning to raise it this year.

The college graduated 17.5 percent of its students within six years, slightly below the average of two similar groups of colleges. Urban colleges graduated 20 percent of their students, and colleges with similar proportions of minority and low-income students 21 percent, Pew found. Students from CCP who transfer to four-year colleges also proved less likely to finish their bachelor's degrees than those at peer schools.

Fifty-two percent of students who enrolled in 2007 did not have degrees six years later and were not enrolled elsewhere, the report found, citing data from the National Student Clearinghouse.

The college reaches fewer residents than peer schools, the report found. In 2012-13, it served 2.9 percent of city residents 18 or older; peer schools in competitive markets served 6.1 percent.

The college's success is important to the city's goal of raising the percentage of students with college degrees. Though Philadelphia has improved its percentage of residents with four-year degrees, it has made virtually no progress in the percentage with two-year degrees, and it falls last among the nation's 15 biggest cities in percentage of residents with either an associate's or bachelor's degree, the report said.

About 30 percent of Philadelphians have degrees, compared with 40 percent on average in the 15 largest cities, according to the report.

In the area of monitoring, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education last year warned the college that its accreditation could be in jeopardy because it had failed to document how it assesses student learning and to inform staff and faculty of the results. It was the first such warning for the college, which had passed all other areas. Such warnings are somewhat common, commission spokesman Richard J. Pokrass told Pew, and loss of accreditation rare.

Generals said the college had addressed that concern.

The state's nursing board also has notified the school it must increase its percentage of students who pass board exams or it will lose approval to train them, the report noted.

The report called the college's workforce training arm, Corporate Solutions, "faltering." It has attracted fewer clients than in the past, and revenue has fallen steeply. Private employers told Pew that the college lacks "appropriate or convenient programs."

Student and faculty leaders at the college were not surprised by the findings and underscored challenges faced by the college - lack of funding, a city with one of the highest poverty rates in the country, and a public school system with many struggling students.

"None of that is to say there is nothing we can do about it," said John W. Braxton, immediate past copresident of the faculty union and a biology professor. "It's just not easy to figure out what to do. We're certainly not ignoring the problem."

Jason Mays, past president of the student government association, said that many students come to the college unprepared and that the college accepts everyone.

"Do they focus the attention on fixing the gap between 12th grade and [college] or do they put more of their resources in students graduating and transferring?" said Mays, 31, who graduated with a business administration degree and now attends Temple University.

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