As of 1991, there were 1,469 community colleges nationally with a total of 5,65 1,900 students. In 1963 community college enrollments represented 17.8 percent of the higher education enrollment; by 199 1 two-year college students represented almost 40 percent of the 14,358,953 students enrolled in higher education (Snyder and Hoffman, 1993).
Women students are now in the majority at community colleges, just as they are in all of higher education. Women are almost 55 percent of the total fall 1991 enrollment in colleges and universities, and over 41 percent of the fall 1991 enrollment of women students was in two-year schools. Part-time enrollment in community colleges has also increased dramatically in the last few decades, partly because of the growing enrollment of women. In the fall of 199 1, 63 percent of community college students were part time; women part-time students were almost 38 percent of the community college's total enrollment. The National Center for Education Statistics projects that by 2004, women will continue to be the majonty population in two-year schools and will represent 58 percent of the student body (Snyder and Hoffman, 1993).
As Laden and Turner indicate in Chapter Two, women community college students are ethnically diverse. More women of color are found in two-year schools than in four-year institutions: 963,725 as compared to 877,640 in the fall of 1991 (Snyder and Hoffman, 1993). As hooks (1987) notes, we cannot think of women as a single category of needs, interests, and abilities. Rather, we need to examine the higher education female population as multiple categories of learners that bring to our campuses diversity among our women and need diverse student services.
I know firsthand how community colleges can provide services conducive to the success of women of color. My entry into academia occurred at a NEW DIREC~ONS FOR C O M M U N I ~ COLLEGES. no. 89. Spring 1995 0 Jwey-Bass Publirhcrs 29