Meta-majors: an essential first step on the path to college completion

A growing body of evidence reveals that a central factor in low completion rates for community college students is the 'cafeteria' style approach to college, which provides entering students with a dizzying array of choices and little guidance on navigating those choices. A poor decision on which classes to take can cost community college students a significant amount of time and potentially mean the difference between earning a credential or degree and stopping or dropping out. Meta-majors are a programmatic response to these findings. Designed with the end (college completion) in mind, and using student's interests as a starting point, meta-majors provide structure and narrow choices to support student success. This paper seeks to scale the meta-majors conversation in the field by exploring the concept looking at two in-depth examples from colleges in Ohio and Florida, offering a set of design principles, and posing the key questions to help guide colleges' thinking.

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