What about Students?

California Community Colleges

With more than 2.1 million students on 114 campuses, the California Community Colleges (CCC) is the largest system of higher education in the United States. The CCC Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) has provided a number of key facts  about these 2.1 million students, including the following:

• Over 67% are from diverse ethnic backgrounds
• Over 62% attend part-time
• Roughly 50% come from California's lowest-income families
• Roughly 40% are first-generation
• Over 40% are over 25 (already working adults)

High Textbook Costs 

The Textbook Affordability Taskforce  for SDCCD found:

• Nearly 50% of the students reported completing a class without the textbook because they could not afford it
• One-third of the students reported dropping a class because they could not afford the textbook
• 80% of students reported that they have purchased a required textbook that the professor NEVER used

Students report the cost of required textbooks caused:

•  66.6% Not purchase the required textbook
• 47.6% Take fewer courses
• 45.5% Not register for a specific course
• 37.6% Earn a poor grade
• 26.1% Drop a course
• 19.8% Fail a course

The information above came from the Florida Student Textbook Survey. These findings align with the 2016 SDCCD Textbook Survey. 

 

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