ABSTRACT
In California, some 40% of the community college-going population is Latina/o (California Community College Chancellor’s Office, 2014). Latina/o students attend community colleges for several reasons including low cost, close proximity to home and family, schedule flexibility, remedial education, open admission, career technical education, and transferrable course work to 4-year institutions (Flores & Park, 2013; Martinez & Fernández, 2004). However, persistent disparities in the educational attainment rates of underrepresented students attending community colleges challenge community college’s ability to advance the case for equal higher education opportunities. In comparison to first-time university students, community college students are three times more likely to possess risk factors negatively impacting their persistence (e.g., delaying start of enrollment, enrolling part-time, and working full-time) (Bailey, Jenkins, & Leinbach, 2005; Berkner, He, & Cataldi, 2002; Katsinas & Tollefson, 2009). Such risk factors are often observed among Latina/o students who make up a substantial proportion of community colleges and have diverse educational goals (Núñez, Sparks, & Hernández, 2011). To incorporate diversified student objectives, community colleges typically offer programs and courses across a wide range of traditional and nontraditional, vocational, and skill-oriented fields. However, the effectiveness of any of these programs, particularly those that are less traditional have historically proven difficult to quantify or track (Arbona & Nora, 2007; Clotfelter, Ladd, Muschkin, & Vigdor, 2013).
