The Role of Community Colleges in Achieving Equality in Educational Opportunities

The goal of the study is to identify the community colleges' role in equalizing educational opportunities in higher education. To achieve this goal, the study addresses three questions concerning the following: (1) The characteristics of the community college students; (2) the components of the community college success in helping students achieve their educational goals; and (3) the recommendations that would increase the effectiveness of the community college in equalizing educational opportunities in higher education. The researcher used analytic descriptive approach for analyzing results of related studies. The study results are as follows: 1- There are some social, psychological and academic characteristics proved to have negative effects on the students' college experiences. 2- The major components of the community college success in helping students achieve their educational goals are: commitment to open-door policy; fulfillment of both transfer and vocational functions; provision of developmental courses, comprehensive counseling services, and financial aid; use of effective teaching strategies; and development of data collection procedures. 3- In light of the results of this study, the researcher suggests some recommendations to increase the effectiveness of the recently established community colleges in Saudi Arabia in equalizing educational opportunities in higher education.