Columbus State Community College
Columbus State Community College's (Columbus State) primary goal is to focus on developing evidence-based programs and interventions aimed directly at assisting students in the beginning of their college experience and continuing that support into the future. One of the most critical factors in overall student success is to help them “start right” in order to remain successful throughout their college experience.
With the help of Achieving the Dream, Columbus State’s ultimate goals are:
- Assisting students with the attainment of a certificate or associate’s degree
- To successfully transfer students into a four-year institution in order to complete a bachelor’s degree
- To integrate current student success projects and activities along with evidence to design new interventions
- Make institutional changes needed to improve student success and close equity gaps
The college remains committed to providing personalized support to each student, and to address the unique needs of each student. Columbus State desires all students to succeed and is committed to reviewing data, policies, procedures, processes and services that meet the needs of the college’s diverse student population.
Columbus State is a large and primarily urban, comprehensive community college with over 50 career-technical certificate and degree programs, two liberal arts transfer degrees, and a robust training and workforce development program. Columbus State serves a large population of students in developmental and gateway courses who often have multiple at-risk factors including socio-economic status, low placement results and first-generation status. In addition, the college has many students who are the primary support for their families and must work while attending school.
Student enrollment for fall 2010 was 30,300; that number includes two campuses. In addition, another 22,234 community members received training through Community Education and Workforce Development. That includes 7,950 who received custom training at their workplace, 1,826 who received "transitional workforce" training such as trades or GED, and 1,393 recent immigrants who received basic language training through the Language Institute. Thirty-seven percent of students were minorities; 57% were female and 99% of students were residents of Ohio.
