Characteristics of Community College Students

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26.8%, 20–24 = 30.9%, 25–39 = 26.9%, 40 and over = 15.4%. The CCCCO (2022b) Disabled 
Student Programs and Services Report reviewed data from academic years 2017–2018 and 
2018–2019 and found students enrolled in DSPS made up nearly 5% of the student population. 
This number could be misleading because some students with disabilities are never diagnosed, 
and others do not self-disclose to avoid being stigmatized. 
In a study conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, Johnson and Cuellar 
Mejia (2014) analyzed statewide student outcomes data for online courses in the CCC system. 
Through the CCCCO, they gained access to unique longitudinal student data and course-level 
data from all 122 community colleges in California. Their study revealed online participation in 
general has been increasing for all ethnic groups. With the COVID-19 global pandemic, all 
groups have been forced into online teaching and learning, so at the time of this writing, all 
student groups have had online learning in common. The study also revealed that although 
participation among all ethnic groups has been increasing, Latinos have been participating at a 
lower rate. Johnson and Cuellar Mejia argued this disparity in levels of participation was to some 
degree a reflection of the digital divide springing from the fact that Latinos were substantially 
less likely to have broadband at home than other groups of students.
There is consensus in the literature about the general characteristics of community 
college students. Community colleges play an important role nationally in preparing students to 
enter the labor force and for transfer to 4-year universities (Adelman, 2005; Engle & Tinto, 
2008; Sublett, 2019). One characteristic that differentiates community colleges from other 
institutions is their open-door policy. Because of this open-door policy and the multiplicity of 
institutional objectives, community colleges serve a broad and diverse range of students. This 

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means community college students are likely to come from socioeconomically disadvantaged 
backgrounds, likely to be ethnically diverse, and likely to be first-generation college students 
(Adelman, 2005; Sublett, 2019).
The community college system enrolls more students in fully online courses than any 
other sector of postsecondary education (Sublett, 2019) and more than half of Latino students in 
California have attended a community college (González, 2015). Students in this population are 
vulnerable to feelings of self-doubt in academic settings and may experience other risk factors 
(Engle & Tinto, 2008; Sublett, 2019). Students of color have been disproportionately represented 
in the community colleges (Mullin, 2012), and although the overall number of racial minorities 
has trended upward, the number of African American and Latinx students has become more 
concentrated in underfunded community colleges (Carnevale & Strohl, 2013). It is important to 
understand how prominently minoritized students figure in the demographic makeup of the CCC 
system to see why there is a need for research that investigates the experiences of those students 
in HyFlex courses as HyFlex’s popularity exploded in higher education since the start of the 
COVID-19 global pandemic. 

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