Handbook for Student Affairs in Community Colleges ed. by Ashley Tull, Linda Kuk, and Paulette Dalpes (review)

Community Colleges are somewhat used to getting short shrift compared to their four year counterparts: fewer resources; less respect; and less scholarship about their institutions, personnel, and students. This volume makes great strides in increasing awareness of the issues, concerns, programs and services of community colleges student affairs organizations and personnel.

These long-standing needs are now highlighted as community colleges ascend into the national spotlight. As the "completion agenda" aims to return the United States to preeminence in terms of adults with college credentials, as 4-year institutions' tuitions rate soar, and as student debt levels are deemed a national crisis, a renewed focus on the large numbers of students attending community college makes increasing sense. The content of the Handbook for Student Affairs in Community Colleges prepares student affairs to be a major contributor in addressing these issues. As an edited book organized in four parts, it covers a broad range of topics from history and research to programs and structures to future directions.

Part 1, "Historical and contemporary developments" contains two chapters. The first, titled "Introduction to student affairs in the community college," by Tull, provides an excellent backdrop for the book. It deftly weaves together community college history philosophy, and evolving purposes. These themes are well-supported by rafts of data in narrative format. Some form of chart for all the numerical information might have made the presentation clearer. Floyd, Felscher, and Mulder authored chapter 2, "The contemporary student and student development theory." The explicit application of student development theory in the community college is extremely welcome, even more so as the authors link student learning and development to retention and graduation rates.

The next eight chapters comprise part 2, “Organizing and leading student affairs in community college settings.” Kuk’s chapter 3, “Organization and administration of community college student affairs” provides a useful 30,000 foot view of student affairs, including how states organize community colleges (as part of state systems, districts, or stand-alone entities). She discusses the impact on funding and administration of student affairs and the disproportionate resources that 4-year institutions enjoy. The focus then becomes internal, covering various reporting models for student affairs organizations in community colleges. Chapter 4, "The challenging and unique role of a community college senior student affairs officer," highlights similarities and differences of the senior student affairs officer (SSAO) role between 2-year and 4-year institutions, and between different types of community colleges. In the latter part of the chapter, authors Garber and Wills provide two illuminating perspectives on the SSAO role, one by an SSAO and one by a president.

Chapter 5, "Partnering with academic affairs in the community college setting," was authored by Cohen, Gomez, Peruggi, Schlesinger, and Suss. The topic and content of this worthwhile chapter are of paramount importance, although the title is somewhat misleading. Rather than a review of literature on academic and student affairs partnerships that is implied by the title, the chapter is actually an excellent case study of such a partnership at Kingsborough Community College. Regardless, the chapter offers much to the reader that can be transferred to other institutions. "Financing student affairs in community colleges," by Kuk and Ash, is the sixth chapter and serves as a good primer on the topic. It reviews community college revenue sources, financial aid, funding formulas, decreasing public support, increasing loan debt, budgeting processes and specific ways that student affairs organizations are funded.

In chapter 7, Lowery accomplishes the near impossible. "Legal and policy issues for student affairs in the community college" strikes a balance between breadth and precision, making complex legal concepts both clear and compelling for the reader. Topics include various sources of law that impact community colleges, the importance of institutional policies and procedures to clarify student rights and responsibilities as well as institutional obligations. This chapter is a must read for student affairs professionals.

With a strong...