At CUNY’s community colleges, young women of color account by far for the largest percentage of total enrollment of any demographic group. But until recently, there has been virtually no research into the specific—and unique—issues these women face as students.
That gap is now being filled by a first-of-its-kind study co-directed by Lisa Rose, coordinator of BMCC’s Human Services Program and an associate professor of Social Sciences; and Precious Sellars-Mulhern, a counseling psychologist in the Counseling Center and associate professor of counseling. Funded by a grant from the New York Community Trust and entitled “The Community College Odyssey: Identifying and Addressing the Obstacles for Women of Color,” the project involves Hostos and LaGuardia Community Colleges as well as BMCC, which is serving as the lead institution.
Starting with a blank slate
“One of the things that sets this project apart is that we went into it with absolutely no agenda or preconceived notions of what we’d find,” says Rose. “Our sole objective at this stage was to collect data.”
In the first stage of the study, focus groups were held with students at each campus; researchers are now using the findings as the basis of interviews with directors of various student programs and department chairs at all three campuses.
What the researchers discovered, to their surprise, was that childcare and outside jobs—key issues facing female students in the past—are of little concern to female students today.
“Virtually none of the students in our study said they had children to care for, and few had outside jobs,” says Sellars-Mulhern. Indeed, women of color who are currently enrolled at CUNY’s community colleges are typically much younger than those who attended a generation ago. “What we did find—and this is quite poignant—is that among the younger students in our study, especially those who had completed fewer than 16 credits, there was a sense of being lost, confused, and disconnected from the campus community,” Sellars-Mulhern adds. “They had ambitious academic goals. But they weren’t using the resources and support services available to them and often expressed a sense of boredom.”
Almost without exception, study participants conveyed a determination to ignore distractions, study hard and earn their degrees. “But they face constant obstacles—often because they’d been given misinformation, or changed majors precipitously, or had academic troubles and didn’t know where to look for help,” Rose says.
Tellingly, the researchers found that most students were receptive to the idea of taking part in focus groups. But of those who committed to participating, relatively few showed up.
“We saw this as a challenge, not a defeat,” says Rose. “The fact is that, even without childcare responsibilities or jobs, these students have complex obligations outside of class—babysitting, perhaps, or caring for an older relative. As a result, they want to spend whatever time they have on campus in the library or computer lab.”
A key factor in the women’s sense of confusion and disconnectedness is that they often do not know where to turn for counsel and guidance. “Many of these young women are the first members of their families to attend college,” Sellars-Mulhern notes. “And while they may have the support of their families, they have no one they can bring their questions and problems to.”
Needed: A “culture of collaboration”
To be sure, there are abundant resources and programs at all three participating schools, such as BMCC’s peer mentoring and Ambassador programs for incoming freshmen. “But there is no concerted effort to coordinate these offerings or make sure students know about them,” Sellars-Mulhern says. “There are a lot of people doing good work, but information, insights and outcomes are not being shared across organizational lines. As a result, students often fall through the cracks.”
Adds Rose, “We need to create a ‘culture of collaboration,’ so that we can collect data, look at these innovative ideas and figure out what works best. Once we’ve completed our interviews of department chairs and program heads, we will see where the most effective initiatives are and how we can capitalize on them.”
To date, most programs have been geared to the needs of either high- or under-achieving students, leaving a vast middle ground—students in the 2.5-to-3.2 GPA range—underserved. “So we will focus on allocating resources for students in that group,” Rose says. The idea, adds Sellars, “is to reach out to them from the moment they walk in the door.”
