Transportation Toolkit for Community College Leaders

Speakers

• Andrea Gonzalez — Trellis Strategies
• May Plumb — Qualitative Research Associate, Trellis Strategies
• Anthony Schuette — Quantitative Research Associate, Trellis Strategies

Editor’s note: This transcript has been lightly formatted for readability. Speaker attribution is based on the conversational context of the source transcription.

[00:00] Welcome and Introduction

Andrea Gonzalez: Welcome. We are happy to have you join us this afternoon or late morning, wherever you’re tuning in from.

We are going to be talking about our Transportation Toolkit, which is a very important element of the modern learner’s experience and the things they navigate as they achieve their academic credentials.

We’re happy to dive into this resource that is available for you on our Research Hub.

We’ll be sharing links throughout the presentation, and anyone who’s registered for this will be mailed a recording of the webinar, as well as slides and any other resources that we mention.

We’ll be taking questions at the end of the presentation. You’re welcome, as you think of them, to put them in the chat or in the Q&A.

So I’ll go ahead and hand it over to our research team. May, I’ll start with you.

[01:05] Meet the Researchers

May Plumb: Thanks, Andrea. And thanks, everyone, for coming today. We’re really excited to talk about transportation for our community college students.

I’m May Plumb. I’m a Qualitative Research Associate at Trellis Strategies. I’m here with Anthony.

Anthony Schuette: Hi. I’m Anthony Schuette. I’m a Quantitative Research Associate.

[01:28] About the Community College Transportation Project

May Plumb: For anyone who’s not familiar with Trellis Strategies, we’re a research and technical assistance nonprofit. We specialize in research surveys, interviews, and focus groups.

We’re going to be talking today about the Community College Transportation Project.

This was a year-long mixed-methods research initiative funded by Lumina Foundation. It included longitudinal analysis of transportation information from the Student Financial Wellness Survey, along with qualitative research and collaboration with participating colleges and transportation stakeholders.

Overall, we gathered insights from four different research and action sites spread across the Midwest and South.

Ultimately, the Transportation Toolkit synthesizes these results into a resource geared toward community college leaders and other stakeholders.

The research centers on three broad observations: transportation access matters for student success; colleges need to understand how their students get around; and investing in transportation is investing in enrollment, retention, and completion.

[03:30] How the Toolkit Works

May Plumb: The Transportation Toolkit brings together these ideas and is available on our Research Hub.

It’s actually three unified resources.

We have the main toolkit, which presents results from different components, including the survey analysis and focus groups.

The toolkit is designed to be flexible. You can take an individual page, bring it to a meeting, or send it around your working group. The pages are designed to be modular and self-contained.

We also have resources that can help institutions begin planning and spearhead the work, along with detailed appendices that provide more in-depth research information.

[05:08] Transportation as a Basic Need

May Plumb: At Trellis, we see transportation as a basic need that is on par with food and housing in the student journey.

We know from prior research that students who have access to reliable transportation are more likely to stay in school. They’re more likely to attend classes regularly and perform well in class.

Transportation challenges can occur when a student could previously get to campus and can no longer easily get there, or something about their transportation status changes and they cannot get to campus anymore.

While research in this area is still developing, some early studies indicate that access to public transit, for example, is associated with increased retention and completion.

[06:59] Working Students and Transportation

May Plumb: In national data from 2020, three-quarters of two-year students had a job while enrolled in the 2019–20 academic year.

That includes the majority of students who were enrolled full time holding at least a part-time job.

We know that 85% of these working students were working more than 20 hours per week, with two out of five working 40 or more hours per week.

That really constrains the amount of time they have for school, including the amount of time they have to commute back and forth from campus, making the ease of that commute all the more important.

In Trellis’ Student Financial Wellness Survey, we see that about a third of those who worked while enrolled reported that they had at least sometimes missed class due to work conflicts.

Over half also agreed that their jobs interfered with their ability to engage with extracurricular activities.

This is part of the picture for modern learners that’s impacting the ways they’re able to engage with school and increasing the importance of transportation for them.

[08:11] Caregiving and Time Poverty

May Plumb: The other factor we want to highlight is caregiving commitments.

We know that about a quarter of two-year students have legal dependents.

That’s an undercount because it doesn’t necessarily represent students who have more informal caregiving relationships that still put constraints on their time.

Caregivers face a number of unique challenges in college.

When looking at students who self-identified as caregivers in the Student Financial Wellness Survey, 82% of these caregivers spent at least 40 hours a week on employment and dependent care combined.

That creates a really high level of time poverty.

When we look at working caregivers, nearly two-thirds identify primarily as a worker who goes to school rather than a student who works.

Between working and caregiving commitments, community college learners today have a lot of different demands on their time.

That’s the context we want to bring as we look at transportation access and how students get to campus.

[09:51] Understanding Students’ Transportation Access

May Plumb: Here I’m going to pass it over to Anthony to go over some of the Student Financial Wellness Survey results.

Anthony Schuette: Thanks, May.

We’ve done the groundwork in terms of understanding who these students are that we’re trying to address with transportation.

What we also wanted to do is set the scene to see the extent to which this is really an issue for students, with a focus on two-year institutions.

[10:20] Vehicle Access and Reliability

Anthony Schuette: One of the biggest considerations when we’re talking about transportation is for those who utilize their own car to get to campus.

Over time, Student Financial Wellness Survey data tells us that a large portion of students at two-year institutions—roughly four in five—have access to a car to get to campus.

However, when we factor in the reliability of these cars for two-year students, that’s where we start to see that the proportion gets closer to the 50% to 60% range.

That means a significant proportion of students who take a car to campus might struggle in some short-term moments with commuting, such as when their car needs repairs or another family member needs the vehicle.

[11:57] Missing Class Because of Transportation

Anthony Schuette: At the aggregate level, reliability really does have an impact.

Despite car users being a significant portion of respondents to the Student Financial Wellness Survey, we still saw that a large number of students missed class, at least occasionally, because of a lack of reliable transportation.

This figure was consistently above 10% of students, independent of the transportation mode they use.

[12:44] Parking Access

Anthony Schuette: Beyond having a personal vehicle, being able to reliably park on or near campus is an important component of a student’s entire transportation experience.

If students feel parking isn’t available or affordable, it can have an impact on their studies.

Two-year schools generally do a pretty good job providing students with reliable, accessible parking.

However, we still see students who aren’t confident in their parking situation on a day-to-day basis.

Throughout the history of the Student Financial Wellness Survey, roughly one in 10 students at two-year schools struggled to find campus parking all the time.

[13:41] Public Transportation

Anthony Schuette: One of the most prominent components of campus transportation strategies centers on public transportation.

Depending on urban necessity, we can see a significant contingent of students relying on public transportation to get to campus.

This can feel somewhat outside the control of higher education leaders. We can’t simply get a bus out of nowhere or develop transit infrastructure unique to our campus.

That’s where partnerships can be influential.

Engaging with local transit agencies, other nonprofits, and community voices to identify places where collaboration is possible can be really beneficial.

[15:14] Transit Access and Travel Time

Anthony Schuette: Students who don’t have great access to campus through transit can really struggle to consistently get to class.

We know that only 57% of primary community college campuses are located within a realistic walking distance of transit.

Research has found this distance is between a quarter and half a mile, or roughly a 20-minute walk.

Furthermore, public transportation takes longer than cars—up to two and a half times as long—and can exacerbate timing and scheduling issues for students already stretched for time.

[16:21] Alternative Transportation Modes

Anthony Schuette: For students without a car or access to transit, there are other transportation modes that can become critical components of commuting.

Active modes such as walking and biking require safety and infrastructure considerations, including safe street crossings, sidewalks, bike lanes, and places to store bikes.

Another popular option is a campus shuttle.

Shuttles can connect campuses with demand areas, particularly in regions underserved or not served by public transportation.

They can also supplement public transportation.

[17:57] Microtransit and On-Demand Transportation

Anthony Schuette: Another option related to campus shuttles is microtransit and other on-demand services.

These services are demand-responsive. They use dynamically generated routes based on need to transport passengers efficiently, either curb-to-curb or between designated hubs.

They can function more like a rideshare application than a traditional transit stop.

Some colleges operate their own on-demand transit within a perimeter around campus.

[19:10] Rideshare Services

Anthony Schuette: Rideshare services themselves are also an option.

We often see them best used as short-term transportation relief for students, such as when a car breaks down, to keep students in class and progressing academically.

They’re often higher cost, which is why we see the short-term focus as more beneficial.

But the ease of use is great, and some rideshare companies have dedicated higher education programs for campus leaders.

[20:12] First- and Last-Mile Transportation

Anthony Schuette: Often the most critical component of transportation in this context is identifying how a user is going to cover both the first and last mile of their journey.

These components are often the most difficult, particularly for public transportation users, because of how few options exist to cover that distance.

We can discern whether first- or last-mile barriers exist by evaluating how far students live from a bus stop or how far the campus is from a stop.

We can also evaluate this in a simple way using mapping tools to get directions from various places to campus.

[28:26] Data-Gathering and Visualization Strategies

Anthony Schuette: We’ve talked about how the toolkit exists as a suite of documents published alongside the primary toolkit.

We’re going to talk about some strategies in those documents that we used in this project to better understand transportation issues.

We can use data visualization to see how students are traveling and where barriers may exist.

For example, if a large majority of students use personal vehicles, we can begin to hone in on how to make that experience as good as possible.

We can also ask: We have a bus stop, so why aren’t students taking the bus?

That’s where qualitative strategies come in.

Maybe transfers between stops are difficult. Perhaps times don’t align with class schedules.

On the car side, we can look at parking or whether we’re enabling carpooling.

These tools help us understand the lived-experience component of transportation systems.

[36:13] Transportation Planning Resources

Anthony Schuette: May, I’ll turn it back over to you.

May Plumb: Those data visualization strategies are one component of our task force resources.

The other component is the planning and discussion guides we created.

We start with a high-level assessment of transportation access.

It’s designed to look at existing infrastructure, current programs, and key features of campus and help leadership identify a high-level priority for improvement.

This guide could be completed by one person in a couple of minutes, thinking through what the campus already has and what might be a first direction for moving forward.

[37:18] Building a Campus Transportation Strategy

May Plumb: You can then use that information with a larger task force.

We have discussion guides that help a larger group, coming together over several meetings, build out a campus strategy for transportation access.

We’ve divided this into three phases.

First is a more detailed assessment of existing transportation resources, current offerings, and areas of need.

In phase two, we provide questions to guide investigation into the transportation needs of the student body.

Every campus is different. There is unfortunately no perfect one-size-fits-all solution because transportation is so grounded in the geography of a specific campus and the distribution of its student body.

[38:48] Creating an Implementation Plan

May Plumb: In phase three, we have a guide for establishing a plan to expand transportation access by clearly articulating the transportation gaps you’ve identified and brainstorming potential solutions.

Institutions can identify small, medium, and large gaps that can become short-, mid-, and long-term strategies.

We’ve also provided a planning template for working through transportation initiatives.

Teams can establish lead personnel, identify required resources, create a draft timeline, and outline implementation steps so there is structure and accountability for getting the work done.

[39:53] Accessing the Toolkit

May Plumb: We’re going to wrap up the presentation part of the toolkit.

You’re free to contact Anthony and me or anyone else at Trellis Strategies for more information.

We’re also available as a brainstorming and research partner to help you determine what resources might work best on your campus.

[40:47] Can Four-Year Institutions Use These Strategies?

Anthony Schuette: We have a question: How can this information apply to four-year institutions?

May Plumb: There is a lot of overlap in recommendations for two-year and four-year institutions.

In many ways, the biggest differences may be based on rural versus urban locations.

I would encourage four-year institutions to look at this with an open mind and think, “This is probably applicable to us, too.”

Four-year institutions may also need to emphasize to transit leadership that their students are commuting to campus and that they’re not all residential students.

Sometimes that can illuminate shared partnership opportunities.

Anthony Schuette: I would highlight the need to acknowledge differences in our populations across two- and four-year institutions.

That doesn’t decrease the applicability to four-year institutions, but it does mean recognizing that different student populations may require different transportation approaches.

[43:34] Transportation During the Transfer Journey

May Plumb: I also encourage both two-year and four-year schools to think about transition points for students.

For example, students transferring from a two-year institution to a four-year institution may experience changes in transportation.

Both institutional partners can think about connecting those dots and making sure they’re providing advising that is comprehensive of the student journey.

Academic advising can include asking: Have you made a plan for what your transportation to campus is going to be? What will that look like? How might it change?

[44:26] Innovative Transportation Interventions

Anthony Schuette: The other question is: What’s the most impactful or innovative intervention you’ve seen community colleges implement?

One example I love is two-year colleges using mechanic or automotive programs to service student vehicles when they’re in need of repair.

We’ve seen this at a few schools.

When a student’s car is broken down, they can go to their campus and students who are getting work-based learning experience can service the vehicle and get it back to them.

You’re accomplishing two things.

It also gives the campus an opportunity to step in and provide short-term solutions because we know that student is experiencing a temporary lack of transportation.

[46:03] Building Transportation Resilience Through Community

May Plumb: I agree. That’s one of the coolest types of programs I’ve read about.

Sudden car breakdowns are such a big deal for community college students.

They may be stranded somewhere, and then suddenly they can’t get to campus even though they want to maintain their attendance.

Providing a low-cost opportunity that also makes students feel like they’re part of the college community is important.

Another thing that sparked my interest was talking with students who had the phone number of the shuttle driver serving their area.

The shuttle driver would text them when they were coming and ask whether they were going to be out that day or whether the driver should wait.

That shows the extent to which we can embrace community-minded, interpersonal strategies.

Institutions can facilitate connections for people to carpool, share resources, and know who they can ask for help.

That builds extra resilience so students don’t feel alone when transportation challenges come up.

[48:40] Closing Remarks

Anthony Schuette: Thank you so much for attending and for caring about this issue of transportation that we’ve identified as being so important to the student-success experience for modern learners.

Seeing no further questions, thank you all so much.

May Plumb: Thanks for joining us. Take care, everybody.

[End of webinar — 49:06]