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ABSTRACT
Community colleges in the United States continue to face financial difficulties related to declining enrollment numbers and lower levels of public funding when compared to four-year institutions. Previous scholars have suggested that community colleges may respond to these financial challenges by increasing their commitment to online education. In this study, we examine whether changes in local and state appropriations are related to the total number and relative share of online students at community colleges. Our findings reveal no statistical relationship between changes in local and state appropriations and online enrollment at community colleges, suggesting that the cost structure of online education may complicate this relationship.
Notes
1. In 2015, the national average of local and state appropriations per FTE student at public four-year institutions ($11,895) was nearly twice as much as the average local and state appropriations per FTE student at community colleges ($6,275) during that same year (authors’ calculations using IPEDS data).
2. According to IPEDS, 986 public community colleges reported institutional data for the 2015–16 academic year. Most variables in our statistical models were missing less than 10% of data; however, a few variables, such as the average amount of institutional aid, the average amount of student loans, the percentage of adult students, and the percentage of part-time faculty, were missing about 10–20% of data.