>“I’ve had to go out of my way to find people, and if they didn’t know the answer, they would send me to somebody else, usually by email.” Hearing back from the financial aid office, she said, can take a month.
State schools are like this too.
That sounds like the ideal response, doesn't it?
We talk about kids not being prepared for the real-world, and this seems like a good example. The first student graduated high-school with a 4.0 GPA, but can't figure out what classes he should take? Some of us went to college pre-email; there was no way to communicate but going office to office to resolve issues..
If I had to guess, the low college completion rate and "employers [being] “lukewarm” about the quality of community college students who do manage to graduate" both stem from grade inflation.
The details don't matter but years ago we had some international family financial transaction that needed an appropriate stamp from someone. A notary wasn't good enough. I was sort of out of options at that point until someone pointed me to one our executive admins who knew what was needed. Today the answer is probably a Google away.
>That sounds like the ideal response, doesn't it?
Ideal would be like a competent concierge, but that simply doesn't exist for the non-wealthy.
And it's not just state schools. When my wife went back to RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology, an expensive private school) to study photography, nobody there could even answer questions like: What courses do I need to graduate? Knowing that might be useful!
A lot of the student management systems used at many schools are extremely antiquated. Degree requirements are expressed in ways that make it difficult or impossible to create tools to help students plan their schedules and stay on track to receive their degree on time. Registration can make it hard for students to enroll in courses they need to complete their program. Many advisers are doing their best, and come up with hacks and workaround to try and help individual students, but access to advising can be limited and advisers are also affected by the poor data and tooling.
And of course, it's worth pointing out that universities are positioned to benefit from student mistakes. Didn't realize that you needed that course to graduate? See you next semester! Make sure to bring your (or your family's) checkbook. I'm sorry you couldn't register for that popular course as an undergraduate! Have you considered our MS programs?
These problems are not limited to community colleges.