Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, community colleges have faced unprecedented enrollment declines. These declines have been so large that community colleges across the country have implemented innovative reforms to try and bring students back to campus. But new data from the National Student Clearinghouse show that enrollment woes are not the only problem facing community colleges.

Like many women struggling to turn their lives around behind bars, Alexa Garza found refuge and hope in the college courses that were offered sporadically and unpredictably in her maximum-security prison in Texas. Despite being the fastest-growing segment of the state’s prison population, women, Garza contends, “are a correctional afterthought.” Several studies support her belief. 

Fewer than 100 of the more than 1,400 community and technical colleges in the country have Head Start centers on campus. Meanwhile, Head Start programs are struggling to enroll children, with up to 180,000 childcare and early learning slots unfilled, according to a press release from the partners. Community colleges will allow Head Start centers to operate on campuses rent-free.