February 17, 2026

Getting the Most out of Community College with Dr. Aarti Dhupelia

Community college is an affordable, local, and career-aligned path that can deliver some of the highest return-on-investment outcomes in higher education. So why is it often a second choice? In this episode, Dr. Aarti Dhupelia explains the benefits of community college.

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About this episode

In this episode, Dr. Aarti Dhupelia explains that community college is an affordable, local, and career-aligned path that can deliver some of the highest return-on-investment outcomes in higher education. She makes the case that community college should be seen as a bold first choice for many students. They stay closely connected to local employers, offer flexible schedules for working learners, and provide multiple “on-ramps” to success, such as transferring to a four-year university, entering the workforce after an associate degree, or combining work and school along the way.

She also shares what she sees in the community college students she works with: resilience, maturity, and a strong work ethic shaped by balancing jobs, family responsibilities, and classes at the same time. She explains why all these traits make them desirable candidates for the workforce.

She also outlines the biggest barriers community college students face, including basic needs insecurity, navigating complex college systems, and not always getting a fair shot from universities or employers. To help students thrive, she encourages them to seek help early and often. She also stresses the importance of building relationships with advisors, and pursuing work-based learning like internships and apprenticeships. She ends by emphasizing that students don’t have to do it alone, and every credit earned is momentum toward a brighter future.

Mentioned in this episode

One Million Degrees – Aarti’s organization. One Million Degrees accelerates community college students’ progress on career pathways to economic mobility.
City Colleges of Chicago – Chicago’s public community college system, and One Million Degrees’ biggest partner.

Host

Will Geiger

Will Geiger is the co-founder of Scholarships360 and has a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. He is a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Kenyon College where he personally reviewed 10,000 admissions applications and essays. Will also managed the Kenyon College merit scholarship program and served on the financial aid appeals committee. He has also worked as an Associate Director of College Counseling at a high school in New Haven, Connecticut.Will earned his master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate degree in history from Wake Forest University.

Guest

Dr. Aarti Dhupelia

Dr. Aarti Dhupelia is the Chief Executive Officer of One Million Degrees (OMD), a nonprofit that empowers community college students to succeed in school, work, and life. Personally and professionally, Aarti is deeply committed to the promise of community colleges as engines of equity and economic mobility. She believes community colleges are the largest-scale opportunity in higher education to drive equitable student and workforce outcomes, and she is honored to advance OMD’s proven model of wraparound supports and career mentorship at a moment when the organization is poised to innovate and scale its impact locally and nationally.