ABSTRACTCASE STUDIES INVOLVING DISPLACED WORKERS' TRANSITION TO COMMUNITY COLLEGEByLillian R. BrooksThe focus of this qualitative study is how community college transition programs and services accommodated students who experienced a major life transition event (job loss) using Schlosberg's (1984) Life Transition Model and the updated model with Anderson and Goodman (2006). Students' perceptions of transition programs and services were juxtaposed with the perceptions of faculty, counselors, and administrators to understand how close or how far the colleges' were in offering wrap-around level services. Three overarching themes emerged from the research data: 1) the student participants reported that, where wrap-around level supports were available and they utilized them, many difficulties in transitioning to college were alleviated; 2) there were organizational issues that mitigated the colleges' ability to sustain wrap-around level services; and 3) the administrators, faculty, counselors, and staff in both cases reported that the colleges' willingness to provide services at the wrap-around level varied depending on external funding resources.Analysis of students' perspectives revealed two transition experiences characterized by moving away from being a displaced worker to becoming fully engaged as a college student. The second transition experience manifested transition barriers which revealed a gap in student services at the main campuses. Significant themes that emerged were learning math, using computers, organizational issues, and building relationships between students and college personnel. Sub-significant themes included orientation, credit articulation, counseling and advising, cohorts and learning communities, and bureaucratic processes.
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