Inside Higher Ed Features BHCC Learning Communities

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

In today’s Inside Higher Ed article, “Building Community for Part-Time Students,” Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) Dean of Humanities and Learning Communities Lori Catallozzi and Director of Learning Communities Arlene Vallie discuss the impact of the College’s Learning Communities program on retention of part-time students.

While many efforts encourage part-time students to enroll in more college credits, BHCC recognizes that for many students, enrolling full-time is not an option. That recognition led the College to refocus how its instructors and advisers engage part-time students and to the integration of student support services and peer mentoring within the Learning Communities program.

“The lives of part-time students are more complex and fuller than full-time students,” said Dean Catallozzi to Inside Higher Ed. “If they’re going to benefit from support services or relationships with faculty or peers, it’ll happen in the classroom.”

The article features key findings from the Center for American Progress (CAP) report released earlier this month that found that part-time students who enrolled in any of BHCC’s several types of Learning Communities in their first year were seven percent more likely to reenroll in the College the following year than other part-time students.

Read the full article in Inside Higher Ed.