ERIC Number: EJ869818
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: 53
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0162-3737
Do Community Colleges Provide a Viable Pathway to a Baccalaureate Degree?
Long, Bridget Terry; Kurlaender, Michal
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, v31 n1 p30-53 2009
Community colleges have become an important entryway for students intending to complete baccalaureate degrees. However, many question the viability of the transfer function and wonder whether students suffer a penalty for starting at 2-year institutions. The authors examined how the outcomes of community college entrants compared with those of similar students who initially entered 4-year institutions within the Ohio public higher education system. Using a detailed data set, the authors tracked outcomes for 9 years and used multiple strategies to deal with selection issues: propensity score matching and instrumental variables. The results suggest that straightforward estimates are significantly biased, but even after accounting for selection, students who initially began at community colleges were 14.5% less likely to complete bachelor's degrees within 9 years. (Contains 22 notes, 9 tables, and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Community Colleges, Two Year College Students, College Transfer Students, Outcomes of Education, Predictor Variables, Academic Persistence, School Holding Power, Comparative Analysis
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Ohio