Enrollment in community colleges has decreased by about 40 percent since 2010. The number of students enrolled in public two-year institutions declined from 7 million in 2010 to 4.5 million in 2022, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Community colleges provide unparalleled affordability when compared to other colleges' average annual tuition of $75,000. In comparison to $10,940 at public universities and $39,400 at private four-year colleges, the average annual cost of a student's tuition at a public two-year institution is $3,860.

Low-income students have been able to achieve their academic goals due to community colleges' affordable tuition rates. Local Florida residents pay just $1,419 each semester at Miami Dade College, and Virginians pay $185.50 per credit hour at Northern Virginia Community College. Such reasonable fees have led to minimal student loan debt.

At the same time, community colleges have faced low graduation rates, with only 43 percent of students getting their degrees within six years, despite the reputation these colleges have as a low-cost degree for those unable to attend a four-year college.

Many Americans have been increasingly questioning the value of going to college at all. They are particularly rejecting community college. In Michigan, for example, from 2018 to 2021, the proportion of high school graduates enrolling in community college declined more than three times faster than the proportion going to four-year colleges, according to Michigan's Center for Educational Performance and Information.

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'It's like a weird maze'

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A graduate of Miami Dade College, Andres Acosta, talked about the lack of teacher engagement and motivation among students, adding he "didn’t like the experience" at school.

While classes were easy to register for, Acosta stressed that "it felt like a lot of teachers did not really care... the atmosphere is one that feels like no one really wants to be there, they’re just there."

27-year-old Santos Enrique Camara, who dropped out of Shoreline Community College in Washington at age 19 in 2015 after completing two semesters studying audio engineering, said he felt lost when he arrived at the college.

"It’s like a weird maze," he said. "You need help with your classes and financial aid? Well, here, take a number and run from office to office and see if you can figure it out."

Two-year community colleges have the worst completion rates of any kind of university or college. About half of students drop out within a year of the community college where they started, like Camara. Only slightly more than 40 percent finish within six years. 

Considering these issues, students are now choosing to enroll in four-year public colleges rather than community college, while others are even choosing not to pursue further education at all in favor of entry-level jobs paying $15 to $20 per hour.

Although the enrollment reduction is alarming, some analysts contend that it is not surprising considering that community colleges reached their peak enrollment ten years ago.

On another note, community colleges get less government money to spend, per student, than public four-year institutions. According to the Center for American Progress, community colleges get $8,695 compared with $17,540 for four-year ones.

Failing these students cannot only be blamed on the mini-budget, Joseph Fuller, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, said.

"The lack of resources inside community colleges is a legitimate complaint. But a number of community colleges do extraordinarily well," Fuller said. "So it’s not impossible."