"PCC students ... enrolled in a special support program that provides extra counseling and tutoring. They also take their classes together to help motivate them, but some have already dropped out," the Los Angeles Times reports. "Twenty-eight students began the program last fall after placement tests showed they needed remedial English or math. Known as learning communities, the programs are increasingly popular as community colleges nationwide try to reduce staggeringly high dropout rates. In California, barely half of all community college students who intend to transfer to a four-year college or earn an associate's degree or vocational certificate actually do so over six years, according to the state. Other researchers say the rate is lower, about 24%."