This article discusses how the State University of New York and the U.S. Department of Education (VTEA programs) rely on a first-time, full-time cohort of entering students to measure the performance of community colleges through a review process that affects their funding. Data from a community college in upstate New York show that the use of this cohort misses roughly two thirds of the students enrolled in degree programs and should not be relied on when measuring overall institutional performance.
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