Shifting Priorities: The Impact of Senate Bill 1720 on the Accessibility of Higher Education

• In Event: College Student Class, Mobility, and Access

Abstract

Community colleges were originally created to make higher education more accessible to students from diverse backgrounds. In recent years, public policy, like Florida Senate Bill 1720 (FSB 1720), has led community colleges to shift their priorities. Community colleges are now encouraged to exchange their democratic mission for social efficiency in the pursuit of becoming more business-like. Our paper seeks to answer the following question: How do campus personnel and students understand changes in access to higher education under FSB 1720? Preliminary findings from a qualitative case study of ten institutions suggest that these individuals are concerned FSB 1720 limits access by: (1) ignoring the digital divide; (2) restricting financial aid for developmental education (DE); and (3) accelerating DE coursework.

Authors

• Amanda N Nix, Florida State University

• Rebecca Brower, Florida State University

• Tamara Bertrand Jones, Florida State University

• Shouping Hu, Florida State University

• David Allen Tandberg, Florida State University

• Toby Park, Florida State University

• Sophia Glenyse Rahming, Florida State University

• Sandra K Martindale, Florida State University