Several policies intended to promote access to higher education in California may actually be preventing students from obtaining the credentials they need, according to a report released today by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy.

Basing state support for colleges on enrollment numbers rather than completion rates, unusually low student fees, and an implied policy that students have “the right to fail” have all encouraged access to the state’s community colleges at the expense of degree completion, according to the report, “Rules of the Game: How State Policy Creates Barriers to Degree Completion and Impedes Student Success in the California Community Colleges.”

The report also says that state restrictions on how community colleges can spend their money and on the percentage of full-time faculty members they must employ have impeded the institutions’ ability to respond to the needs of their students and local communities.