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December 7, 2009

Meeting a need — 12/08/09

Colleges expect more students will take remedial classes

Anonymous The Daily Independent Mon Dec 07, 2009, 04:37 PM EST

Jay Box. chancellor of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, says the statewide network of 16 schools that includes Ashland Community and Technical College will need 50 new faculty members next year, but they won’t be teaching college-level courses. Instead they will be teaching students what they should have learned in high school.

Because of tougher admission standards at Kentucky’s higher education institutions, officials estimate that the number of first-time students needing remedial classes next fall will be between 17,400 and 20,000 students, an all-time high.

The greatest impact will be on the community and technical colleges. Although the two-school schools have always had an open admissions policy that accepts anyone with a Kentucky high school degree, the higher admission standards at the state’s four-year universities are expected to force more students to take remedial classes at a community and technical college before they can enroll in a four-year university.

Box said the community and technical colleges are expecting the number of students taking remedial courses will increase by 30 to 50 percent over the 13,300 community and technical college students who needed remedial education classes in English and math this fall.

Just hiring the number of faculty members needed to teach those remedial classes will cost an additional $3 million on $4 million in salaries and benefits at a time when state funding for higher education and virtually everything else is expected to be extremely tight, Box said.

Of course, the students must pay for the remedial classes they take, and many of the classes are taught by part-time faculty members. Nevertheless, hiring faculty members to teach high school-level courses is a strain on the budgets of community and technical colleges that would not be necessary if high schools were doing a better job of preparing students for college work.

At a time when the costs of college are soaring, remedial classes increase the cost and amount of time needed to earn a degree. Instead of talking courses that count toward a degree, too many college students are taking remedial courses.

The number of new students needing remedial classes is hardly a new problem, but it seems to be getting worse instead of better. One reason is that more Kentuckians than ever are enrolling in college, and that’s a positive in a state that has a woeful shortage of college graduates. But if those students are going to be successful in college — and reduce the cost of their education — they need to do a better job of preparing themselves for college while in elementary, middle and high school.

The increase in the number of students needing remedial classes is a problem for universities and community and technical colleges — but it is a problem that begins in high school and earlier. High schools must do a better job of preparing students for life after graduation.

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Meeting a need — 12/08/09

Colleges expect more students will take remedial classes

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