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Complete College America research finds part-time students disproportionately from historically-excluded backgrounds; urges colleges and policymakers take steps to ensure part-time student success

INDIANAPOLIS (August 26, 2022) — Complete College America (CCA), a national non-profit organization on a mission to raise postsecondary attainment in the United States, released a new research brief on the impact of part-time enrollment on college completion, particularly among historically-excluded students. Entitled “Part-Time Students Must Be a Full-Time Priority”, the new report provides actionable recommendations to help colleges, systems, and policymakers reorient institutional practices around the needs of part-time learners.

“The research has long been clear that time is the enemy of completion for students—regardless of full- or part-time enrollment status. However, because of the broken economics of paying for college, part-time study is a necessity for learners balancing the complex demands of family, education, and career,” said Yolanda Watson Spiva, president of Complete College America. “At a time when students from historically-excluded backgrounds are disproportionately enrolled part-time, this research makes it clear that meeting the needs of part-time students is an equity imperative.”

In contrast to the pop culture archetype of college students, full-time, first-time students have been a declining share of higher education for more than a decade. Nationally, more than half of students attend college part-time and 64 percent work at least part time, with 40 percent working full time. However, full-time, first-time students are also more likely to be white, attend four-year colleges or universities, and attend college without having work or family obligations.

This report sheds light onto the barriers to on-time completion facing part-time students and how the challenges of part-time enrollment disproportionately affect historically excluded students. According to research compiled by CCA using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, part-time student attainment rates lag significantly behind those of their full-time counterparts, and part-time students are disproportionately BILPOC (Black, Indigenous, Latinx, People of Color) students, community college students, and students ages 25 and older.

“Part-time students must be given the same resources, access and support from institutions and policymakers as their full-time counterparts,” Charles Ansell, Vice President for Research, Policy and Advocacy at Complete College America. “While taking 30 credits per academic year still represents the north star, the path to completion will be different for each student. Ultimately, we need to make the cost of full-time attendance more affordable, make part-time students more efficient, and ensure that every student—regardless of enrollment status—has the  support and structure they need to succeed.”

The report builds on CCA’s work over the past decade to disrupt barriers to college completion for students from historically underserved backgrounds through its widely-adopted Game Changer strategies. Among those strategies is “15 to Finish”, which encourages full-time students to take 15 academic credits per semester to put them on a path to completing in 3-4 years.

The new publication from Complete College America provides a series of recommendations for institutions to help meet the needs of part-time students. Recommendations in the report include updating the structure of the academic experience, expanding course schedules to include non-traditional hours, and offering short courses to help part-time students earn credentials of value more quickly. The report also urges institutions to strengthen their focus on wraparound services to assist with students’ basic needs including nutritional programs, housing, transportation, and access to affordable care.

In addition to providing specific recommendations for shifts in on-campus support and institutional practice, the report calls on state and federal policymakers to prioritize investments in evidence-based programs to improve on-time completion for part-time learners and build new data systems to better measure and track the progress of part-time students.

For more information on Complete College America’s research and to read the entire report, visit completecollege.org.

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About Complete College America: Complete College America (CCA) builds movements for scaled change and transforms institutions through data-driven policies, student-centered perspectives, and equity-driven practices. Since its founding in 2009, CCA connects a national network of forward-thinking state and higher education leaders and introduces bold initiatives to help states and institutions confront inequities, close institutional performance gaps, and increase college completion rates, especially for marginalized and historically excluded students. For more information, visit http://www.completecollege.org.