ABSTRACT
Arelatively small community college district in Northwest Washington State, Skagit Valley College (SVC) includes a main campus in Mount Vernon, a campus on Whidbey Island, and several centers in outlying areas. Of the approximately 6,500 students (3,900 full-time equivalent students) enrolled in credit courses, 45 percent intend to seek a university transfer degree. The student body is primarily White (75 percent), with a growing Hispanic population; approximately one-third are first-generation college attendees. Since 1986, the College has been offering learning communities, generally pairs of courses in which students enroll as a cohort, and has required learning community participation as part of its general education program for transfer degrees since 1993.
