With an anticipated decline in the college-age population, high costs of four-year degrees, and changing demands among employers, parents, and students, higher education seems to be at a crossroads.

Understanding and appropriately measuring the role that community colleges play in rural areas is important to how we evaluate policies and funding for workforce and community development throughout the rural Fifth District.

Over the past 50 years, male labor force participation in the U.S. has fallen over 10 percentage points. What are the factors behind this decline?

Community colleges serve a larger share of minority students than public or private four-year schools.

College degree attainment is associated with higher labor force participation, and although better data is needed to understand fully, this seems to also be true for those who have some college but no degree.

Historically, most higher education state and local spending has gone to four-year institutions. As community colleges play an increasing role in training workers for high-demand jobs, have funding patterns kept up?

This article covers the state-level employment data release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for January, written by the Richmond Fed's team of regional economists.

Community colleges offer non-credit workforce training programs that prepare students for high-demand jobs. Data on these programs and their students are limited. The Richmond Fed's Survey of Community College Outcomes aims to bridge the data gap.

In order to observe Fifth District community college outcomes, we decided to collect consistent data that would enable us to calculate a new success metric: the Richmond Fed Community College Success Rate.

The STEM East initiative aims to show students in eastern North Carolina how they can stay and thrive in their home communities.

HEERF dollars helped community colleges and their students withstand pandemic disruptions. But schools that used the money for revenue replacement or other recurring items may have difficulty operating in a post-HEERF world.

Hispanic postsecondary enrollment has nearly doubled in the Fifth District over the past decade, contributing to increased diversity across college campuses. Organizations work to engage Hispanic youth throughout the college application and attendance process to ensure their success as college students.

The Richmond Fed's Survey of Community College Outcomes presents a new way to measure success that includes previously underrepresented cohorts of students, including those receiving Pell grants.

In a world where employers are struggling to find workers, facilitating meaningful work and competitive pay for previously incarcerated individuals could improve economic outcomes both for the individuals and their communities.

This new system for measuring community college outcomes better reflects how the institutions are serving their students and communities than current data collection methods.

While all sectors of higher education have experienced declines, community colleges have been hardest hit: this fall, community college enrollment declined significantly for the second consecutive year.

Fifth District states have amassed budget surpluses over the past few years. Additionally, state and local governments received aid through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Now, states must decide how to spend both.

Vance-Granville Community College's early college high schools and workforce programs are improving education and job opportunities for area residents.

Community college enrollment declined significantly across the country in fall 2020, breaking the typical pattern of increased enrollment during a recession.

The most recent stimulus bill extends many 2020 changes to the unemployment insurance program but reduces the supplement to weekly benefits.

Policy changes and the unique nature of the COVID-19 pandemic may impact the way labor market health is evaluated going forward.

COVID-19 has disrupted traditional higher education institutions and is forcing institutions to make substantial changes to their plans for the coming academic year.

As part of the U.S. response to COVID-19, unemployment insurance recipients are receiving increased weekly payments. For many individuals in the Fifth District, these enhanced unemployment benefits are greater than the wages they earned while at work.

As we wrap up data collection for 2024 and prepare to release our results in November, this post highlights what we've done so far, what we're working on, and future plans for the project.

The credential-jobs misalignment among middle-skill workers has an impact on the economy, causing inefficiencies in employer-employee matching. Rethinking how community colleges and universities approach transfer agreements could provide better alignment.

The looming FAFSA crisis has continued into June, likely leading to a decrease in enrollments for grant and federal loan dependent schools. In turn, community colleges may see an enrollment increase.

Issues surrounding the new FAFSA form have led to a sharp decline in form completions for the coming academic year. This could result in overall enrollment declines across higher education, but it is likely to hit some groups of students and institutions harder than others.

The motivations behind the new gainful employment policy are noble, but community colleges, especially in rural areas, could be disproportionately harmed by the earnings premium test.

In this article, we discuss the history and motivation of federal gainful employment legislation and what the new rules entail.

Community colleges started out as junior colleges and meant to restrict access to higher education. However, they have evolved to increase access to higher education and the workforce.

Between the webinar on the Survey of Community College Outcomes and the District Dialogues event, we hope you can join us on Nov. 15.

Community colleges differ from four-year institutions in important ways, but they are often measured by the same metrics.

Funding formulas for higher education have traditionally been based primarily on full-time equivalent enrollment. This creates disparities between funding for four-year institutions and community colleges that may worsen over time.

Demand for non-credit programs at community colleges is growing. What does this mean for the future of community college offerings?

Community college graduation rates lag those of their four-year counterparts in the Fifth District. Is this evidence of failure or mismeasurement?

The calculation of college graduation rates is complicated, and many community college students are left out of the formula altogether.

A large number of high school students attend community college in the United States, with higher rates observed in rural areas. While this enrollment trend has grown over the past twenty years, data on these students' success has not.

Non-credit programs provide community college students an opportunity to obtain shorter-term training and credentials. These programs are becoming more popular, but we currently know very little about non-credit students.