Blue Devil Notebook: Student equity program bears fruit

With the state providing funding for student equity programs, and a new strategic student equity plan in place at Merced Community College, Dr. Mike McCandless is working to remove barriers to education for the area’s most disadvantaged students.

“Equity means fairness,” the student services dean said. “Access to education is one part of it, and we want to do what we can to identify barriers that our students face, and once they’re here, we want to provide services that will ensure their success.”

Targeting a student population that includes Hispanic students, especially males, those who face social and economic hardships to education, and adult learners, Merced College has begun to see improvement in course completion and success rates.

“In several areas, through strategic implementation of support services we are able to recognize improvements in student success rates,” McCandless said.

Students utilizing academic support services improved their course completion rate from 83 percent in the fall 2011 semester to 88 percent in the spring 2014 semester. Similarly, the course success rate improved from 60 percent to 64 percent.

“These rates are improving as we continue to provide students with a variety of support services, such as our Study Central program, tutorial, the math and writing labs, supplemental instruction, and peer mentoring,” McCandless said.

The college conducted seven focus group sessions in April and May throughout Merced County to determine the community’s perception of the college, barriers to enrolling in courses, and how best to communicate and market the college’s program offerings.

The overwhelming barrier participants reported was financial. Many potential students are working and raising families, and do not have the financial ability to attend college. Lack of child care was also identified as a significant barrier.

Often participants reported lack of support from their families, which has hindered their ambition to complete their education.

Students experience multiple barriers to college success, oftenunintentional. As one student said: “Education was never emphasized in my home. Working and making money was what was important. My parents only allowed me to go to school until the eighth grade. After that, I had to work.”

McCandless and his student equity team recognize the need to address student need in multiple ways by reaching out to the community and also providing tangible support on campus.

“We’ve used state equity funding to purchase all of the library’s reserve textbooks,” he said. “Not being able to afford a textbook shouldn’t be a barrier to education. We’ve also used equity funding to redesign and improve our college website, which should become easier to navigate and more user-friendly.”

The goal of the college’s student equity program is to remove barriers to access and success, thereby increasing student success, completion and transfer rates, McCandless said.

McCandless said that as a result of recommendations from the focus group sessions, the college will concentrate on increasing high school outreach, providing financial aid workshops in rural communities, enhancing the college’s social media presence, using successful alumni in marketing and advertising, and communicating more directly with the families of potential students.

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Blue Devil Notebook: Student equity program bears fruit."