The purpose of this study was to describe the factors that helped to increase the academic success of 13 low-track Hispanic students who attended a local community college. The participants graduated from a nearby high school within the service district of the community college in 1991 or 1992. They were chosen from among other low-track students at the community college using the following criterion: At the conclusion of their freshman year in college, they had completed at least 24 units with a minimum grade point average of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale. These students, who were designated as "outlying students," provided the data for the study. Data were collected using (1) the students' high school and college permanent records, (2) a personal survey form, and (3) a personal interview with each student. The data provided the researcher with evidence that the students perceived the following factors as key to increasing their academic success at the community college: (1) The students' high personal perceptions of themselves and their high regard for receiving a postsecondary education and a degree. (2) The college instructors' concern for them, which provided a support system that enabled them to complete their courses successfully. (3) The college's remedial program, which provided the outlying students with a means for bringing their academic skills up to a level that would allow them to cope successfully with college academic demands. (4) The support system provided by their parents, which furnished not only "human support" (money, clothing, etc.), but also "emotional support" (encouragement and purpose). Although this research was limited in sample size, it provided the researcher, a community college instructor, with several suggestions for helping the community college to provide services to help low-track students to achieve academic success.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a public community college on American Indian students in terms of their goals, aspirations, and persistence. These effects are fundamental to understanding attrition and the low transfer and completion rates of American Indians and other minorities in community colleges. The study was conducted as a case study in an urban community college in the Southwest. Seven individual case studies were embedded in the larger study. Data were obtained through weekly interviews and followup of students who dropped-out. Goodenough's cognitive theory of culture served as the theoretical basis for the study. Spradley's typology of question format, which is intended to generate the categories into which individuals divide their cultural knowledge, was used to determine cultural perceptions and related changes that occurred over time. None of the students completed the programs in which they had enrolled. A main finding was that the students perceived the community college as a way to disassociate themselves from social problems that marginalize Indian people and engender stereotypes. However, the culture that was produced at the college discounted the students' sense of competence and reinforced a sense of marginalization they were attempting to overcome. The students possessed a wide variety of background experiences, but maintained a deep structure of internal values and expectations associated with their unique Indian heritage and experience. These combined over time with the patterns and meanings of the institution, creating situational arrhythmia which frustrated the students' expectations, aspirations, and life tasks. Significant issues that arose included: (1) The acquisition of meaningful experience; (2) a lack of a sense of a supportive environment; (3) preferred ways of learning, (4) conflicts between institutional and personal priorities and (5) negative and regressive effects of the "deficit model" in remedial education. Community colleges are unaware of the actual effects that they have on culturally diverse students. They should become "culturally literate" and adopt policies and practice policies which will allow them to extend beyond the inherent ethnocentrism they now embody. In matching equal access with equality of outcomes, this study suggests that community colleges must consider significant changes and innovations.