College Profiles

Hillsborough Community College

Background

Hillsborough Community College (HCC) has four campuses in the Tampa Bay area of Florida . Its focus on student access is evident in a 23 percent growth in enrollment between 2000 and 2003. Enrollment of Black students grew 18 percent during that period.

Helping students achieve their educational goals is a challenge because most of the entering students are not ready for college academics. HCC reports that 87 percent of its Black students and 78 percent of its Hispanic students are under-prepared. HCC reports that 87 percent of its Black students and 78 percent of its Hispanic students are under-prepared. All HCC student groups fall at least 12 percentage points below the Florida Community College System’s average for completion of developmental reading.

Achieving the Dream Goals

HCC has five priorities related to curriculum and instruction, program evaluation, and learning services and practices. They are:

·        Addressing the difficulties that students have making the transition from preparatory to college-credit courses, especially in developmental reading;

·        Improving students’ performance in gatekeeper courses;

·        Strengthening student services’ planning and implementation;

·        Enhancing student performance reports to include all ethnic groups;

·        Raising graduation and retention rates among Black and Hispanic students.

The college will evaluate its gatekeeper courses. It will focus on the most promising practices among the existing improvement initiatives including learning communities, supplemental instruction, and academic support centers. Changes will be implemented first at the Brandon campus.  HCC will add “Getting Ready for College” workshops for potential students; and “Student Success Advocates” to assist students.