If you are an unmotivated person who didn't take the traditional path of going to a 4 year school right after HS, chances are you are probably going to still be unmotivated when you go CC and end up dropping out.
If you were unable to take the traditional 4 year approach because life got in the way (like a young pregnancy, coming from a poor, rural family), then CC is going to give you a chance that wouldn't have had otherwise.
When I was at CC, I never got the impression that goal of the system was to get everyone an associates degree and then into a 4 year to complete a bachelors, but rather to give the people in the second category a path to a bachelors.
I really hate using the term, but the writers of the this article must be extremely privileged and out of touch if they don't understand that not everyone get the chances to go from HS graduation to living in the dorms as freshman, and the CC system is a great tool for upward mobility.