The Richmond Fed has created a quantitative, consistent system for measuring community college outcomes.
Fifth District Survey of Community College Outcomes

Community colleges play a major role in workforce and economic development across the Fifth District. Our survey of community college outcomes better reflects how the institutions are serving their students and communities than current data collection methods.
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 our pilot survey, our student success metric was higher in almost every case than traditionally reported measures.
Interested in joining the survey? Learn more about how your school can participate.
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.
Join our Survey of Community College Outcomes and help us better understand how community colleges serve their students and their communities.