Transfer programs less efficient

To the editor:

James Kellerman, executive director and CEO of the Missouri Community College Association, writes in response to my earlier op-ed column that I do not "know or understand the mission of a community college." He goes on to justify Three Rivers Community College's emphasis on transfer programs.

I taught three years at a community college in Memphis before earning a doctorate. I have published research and authored federal grants on economic development in Southeast Missouri and the lower Mississippi delta. Community colleges spend too much on transfer programs because it is cheaper to hire an instructor in history than a qualified instructor in an area like heavy-equipment hydraulics. Education at all levels tends to stigmatize careers that require getting your hands greasy.

All colleges want to increase revenue. A variety of federal aid programs have turned students from impoverished backgrounds into cash cows, especially at open-door colleges. At the community college where I taught, the administration replaced the failing grade (F) with a no credit (NC) grade as a ploy to keep some federally subsidized students from flunking out. The community college argued that the F damaged student self-esteem.

State government monitors the four-year graduation rate of schools like Southeast Missouri State University, but no one knows for sure the four-year degree rate for all students who begin a community college transfer program, although it is believed to be very low. Despite lower tuition costs, community college transfer programs are much less efficient than advocates suggest.

MICHAEL DEVANEY, Cape Girardeau