Exploring Relationships Between Full-Time Faculty and Community College Student Success

Community colleges are trending toward a decrease in full-time faculty and an increase in adjunct faculty. Using 2019-2020 IPEDS data from 853 community colleges, researchers explored the relationship between full-time faculty and community college student retention, and combined graduation and transfer rate. Results demonstrated that proportion of full-time faculty was related to community college student graduation and transfer rate. Results also showed that proportion of full-time faculty was not related to retention for full-time or part-time community college students but that these retention rates have a small mediation between full-time faculty proportion and combined graduation and transfer rates. Implications for future research are discussed.