Document Author: Mitchell Lingo

The Revenue Implications of Community Colleges’ Reliance on Local Funding (2024)

In this study, we leverage national data sources to examine the relationship between community colleges’ level of reliance on
local funding and their total institutional revenue, focusing specifically on community colleges educating the largest shares
of low-income and racially minoritized students. We show that local funding is positively related to total institutional revenue
for the pooled sample including all public community colleges, suggesting that local appropriations can supplement state
appropriations in ways that benefit a historically underfunded sector of higher education. However, we also show that community colleges’ level of reliance on local funding is negatively related to their total institutional revenue for rural community
colleges and community colleges serving an above-average share of low-income students. Our findings align with scholarship
in K–12 finance, indicating that local appropriations, such as property taxes, may exacerbate inequities facing the institutions
serving larger shares of economically disadvantaged students.

Basic Needs Insecurity and Mental Health: Community College Students’ Dual Challenges and Use of Social Support (2022)

The objective of this study is to examine the potential co-occurrence of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems among community college students. These barriers to student success are gaining significant attention from college leaders and scholars, but they are often addressed in isolation, ignoring the potential reinforcing nature of these challenges. We use data from a national survey of community college students to examine the relationship between experiences of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems, and investigate the support systems that students rely on for help. Findings indicate that students who experience basic needs insecurity are substantively and significantly more likely than their materially secure peers to report depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation, planning, or attempt, even after accounting for background characteristics. Those with both food and housing insecurities are even more likely to report mental health problems and the likelihood is positively associated with severity of material hardship. Given limited institutional supports, students often rely on friends or family for emotional and mental support. Receipt of social support is higher among those with mental health challenges, but it also varies by students’ basic needs security status. This suggests that students facing the dual challenges of basic needs insecurity and mental health problems may have exhausted this important social resource.