As efforts ramp up nationwide to boost the number of Americans with college degrees to 60 percent by 2025, community colleges are looking at creative changes that could produce more graduates and make transitions to four-year institutions easier.
In Florida, community colleges have been scouring their records in search of students who have earned degrees and certificates but not yet received them. Thousands of students have been contacted in recent months, and many have been surprised by the good news, which comes as the state is pushing colleges to improve their completion rates.
The state's records show that from 2008 to 2011, 13,629 students left community colleges with 60 credits or more completed and without graduating. An associate in arts degree generally requires 60 credits. At Valencia College alone, officials say they identify about 60 students each semester who are eligible for associate degrees but failed to turn in the paperwork to graduate. This past spring, Indian River State College granted 222 degrees after poring over records dating back to 2005.
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