Labor Market Returns to Sub-Baccalaureate Credentials: How Much Does a Community College Degree or Certificate Pay?

This study provides one of the first estimates of the returns to different types of community college credentials--short-term certificates, long-term certificates, and associate degrees--across different fields of study. We exploit a rich dataset that includes matched, longitudinal college transcripts and Unemployment Insurance records for students who entered a Washington State community college in 2001-2002, and we use an individual fixed effects identification strategy to control for both observed and unobserved student characteristics that are time invariant. We find that earning an associate degree leads to positive increases in wages in almost every field (compared with earning some credits but not obtaining a credential), but that the magnitude of these effects varies greatly by field. For example, while earning an associate degree in the humanities and social sciences increases earnings by 5 percent for women, earning an associate degree in nursing increases women's earnings by 37 percent. Further, our analysis by field of study reveals that the returns to associate degrees are higher than the returns to long-term and short-term certificates within almost every field, but that a larger proportion of long-term certificates tend to be offered in high-return fields. Our findings also suggest that, unlike associate degrees and long-term certificates, short-term certificates have little or no effect on wages in most fields of study when compared with earning some credits and leaving college without a credential. Finally, the impact of credential receipt on the probability of employment and on hours worked per week is at least as significant in magnitude as the impact on wages. This suggests that part of the returns to earnings estimated in previous literature results from the greater employability of students who earn a credential rather than from increases in human capital as measured by wages

Improving the Transition to College: Estimating the Impact of High School Transition Courses on Short-Term College Outcomes

Many recent high school graduates remain inadequately prepared for college and are required to enroll in remedial or developmental education courses in mathematics or English upon enrollment in college. High rates of college remediation are associated with lower progression and college completion rates. To address this problem, some states, districts, and individual high schools have introduced “transition courses” to prepare students for college-level math and English coursework. Transition courses are typically offered to high school seniors who have been assessed as being underprepared for college math or English. This study uses a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effect of participation in a mathematics transition course on college-level math outcomes in West Virginia for the 2011–12 and 2012–13 high school senior cohorts. Our findings suggest that, among students who scored very close to the cutoff score on an assessment used to decide what students took the course, the math transition course had no statistically significant effect on improving college readiness (as measured by exemption from remedial education upon college entry due to a passing score on a placement test) and in fact had a negative impact on students’ likelihood of passing a college gatekeeper math course. Possible explanations for these outcomes include that (1) the transition course may have displaced traditional senior-year courses that were in practice more rigorous than the transition course or that provided positive impacts from inclusion of higher performing peers, and that (2) the transition course curricula may not have been well aligned to the skills required for success on the COMPASS placement test. Most students who took the transition course did not pass the COMPASS, which was taken at the conclusion of the course. The specific math course studied is no longer offered; math transition courses in West Virginia now use a different curriculum

Employment Outcomes of Community College Information Technology Students

Understanding the role of subbaccalaureate programs in preparing students for the workforce has become increasingly important, particularly in quickly changing fields that require well-trained technical workers, such as information technology (IT). To better understand the role of community colleges in educating IT workers, we examined two key issues: (1) students‘ employment outcomes by the type of community college IT preparation they complete, and (2) the type of employers that tend to hire community college IT students. Specifically, we analyzed data on students who were enrolled in an IT program at any Washington State community and technical college during the 2000-01 academic year and who completed their program or left college by the spring of the 2004-05 academic year. We examined information on students‘ course-taking in college and their employment before, during, and after their college enrollment. Our investigation of employment outcomes by type of community college preparation suggests that employers prefer workers with higher-level credentials. Of the four groups we analyzed, students with both an associate degree and a certificate in IT had the strongest employment outcomes in terms of likelihood of employment, hours worked, and earnings. They were followed by students with an IT associate degree, and then by students with an IT certificate. Students who earned no credential but concentrated their study in IT by completing four or more courses had the weakest employment outcomes, underscoring the importance of completing full programs and earning a credential. Compared with workers overall, IT students were more likely to work for medium sized employers. They were also more likely to be employed in temporary services and educational services industries. Our findings highlight the importance of community college efforts to engage with the full range of local employers as well as the potential need for different engagement strategies, depending on the employer

The Role of Community College Education in the Employment of Information Technology Workers in Washington State

Understanding the role of subbaccalaureate programs in preparing students for the workforce has become increasingly important, particularly in quickly changing fields that require well-trained technical workers, such as information technology (IT). To better understand the role of community colleges in educating IT workers, we examined two key issues: (1) students' employment outcomes by the type of community college IT preparation they complete, and (2) the type of employers that tend to hire community college IT students. Specifically, we analyzed data on students who were enrolled in an IT program at any Washington State community and technical college during the 2000-01 academic year and who completed their program or left college by the spring of the 2004-05 academic year. We examined information on students' course-taking in college and their employment before, during, and after their college enrollment. Our investigation of employment outcomes by type of community college preparation suggests that employers prefer workers with higher-level credentials. Of the four groups we analyzed, students with both an associate degree and a certificate in IT had the strongest employment outcomes in terms of likelihood of employment, hours worked, and earnings. They were followed by students with an IT associate degree, and then by students with an IT certificate. Students who earned no credential but concentrated their study in IT by completing four or more courses had the weakest employment outcomes, underscoring the importance of completing full programs and earning a credential. Compared with workers overall, IT students were more likely to work for medium sized employers. They were also more likely to be employed in temporary services and educational services industries. Our findings highlight the importance of community college efforts to engage with the full range of local employers as well as the potential need for different engagement strategies, depending on the employer

Charting Pathways to Completion for Low-Income Community College Students

This paper uses administrative data from Washington State to chart the educational pathways of first-time community college students over seven years, with a focus on young, socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Of particular interest are the rates at which students enter a program of study or concentration (by passing multiple college-level courses within a focused field of study), the amount of remediation taken by students in each concentration, and the rates at which students in different concentrations earn certificates or associate degrees, or transfer to four-year institutions. The paper identifies patterns of progression among students with low socioeconomic status and makes recommendations for practitioners and policymakers

What We Know About Transition Courses

Developing high-quality transition curricula for high school students so they can be ready for college is challenging, and achieving good results requires time and commitment. Sharing approaches to implementation and outcomes findings can allow education leaders to make appropriate adjustments to existing programs or help them to start new ones. To encourage communication about transition curricula, CCRC convened researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from seven states in the spring of 2015 (CA, FL, IL, NJ, NY, TN, and WV) to review our collective knowledge about these programs. This overview, What We Know About Transition Courses, provides a summary of the state of knowledge on transition courses based on CCRC’s ongoing research and discussions held that day. Transition Course Initiatives in Seven States is a summary of each participating state’s transition course initiative

Institutional Variation in Credential Completion: Evidence from Washington State Community and Technical Colleges

As community colleges search for models of organizational success, new attention is being paid to technical colleges—institutions that primarily offer terminal programs in specific career-related fields rather than focusing on more general academic credentials and transfer programs as many comprehensive institutions do. Recent research observes that in some states, technical colleges have substantially higher completion rates than do comprehensive community colleges. Yet there is scant research available that systematically compares similar students in similar programs at technical and comprehensive colleges. This study uses administrative data from Washington State to compare the outcomes of young, career-technical students across institutions, with and without extensive controls for student characteristics, educational intent, and area of study. This generates three key findings: first, technical and comprehensive colleges tend to serve quite different populations, so a true apples-to-apples comparison requires limiting the analysis to a relatively small fraction (less than 10%) of students enrolled at either institution. Second, at least for this limited subset of career-technical students, technical schools have significantly higher certificate completion rates after three years, with no apparent deficit in associate degree completion. Our third main finding is that the differences in student outcomes within the two types of schools are much larger than differences between them. Even within this limited group, institution type alone explains a relatively small fraction of the overall variation in student outcomes across institutions. It would thus be unwise for research and policymakers to fixate on this one dimension of difference

Modularization in Developmental Mathematics in Two States: Implementation and Early Outcomes

Drawing on data from a mixed-method study of modularized developmental mathematics reforms in North Carolina and Virginia, this paper describes how the reforms have been implemented, with attention to the choices colleges must make when designing course offerings and instructional delivery. Student outcomes—including placement patterns, module pass rates, and progression through the developmental math sequence—are presented for two distinct course structures. Analysis of qualitative data provides insights into how the modularized curricula and course structures present opportunities and challenges for student progression and learning. Two overarching themes emerged from this analysis. First, “modularization,” as a reform to developmental mathematics, cannot be disentangled from the implementation choices colleges make. Second, the theorized benefits of modularization, which include student-centered and personalized learning as well as enhanced mastery of content, appear to be in tension with the effort to accelerate student progress through developmental math. The paper provides examples of how colleges have balanced these tensions and found solutions to drawbacks inherent to each course structure. The final section includes recommendations for colleges

The Medium-Term Labor Market Returns to Community College Awards: Evidence From North Carolina

In this paper, the authors examine the relative labor market gains for first-time college students who enrolled in the North Carolina Community College System in 2002–03. The medium-term returns to diplomas, certificates, and degrees are compared with returns for students who accumulated college credits but did not graduate. The authors also investigate the returns to credit accumulation, subject field, and transfer and the early trajectories of wages for different student subgroups during the 2000s. The analysis is based on student-level administrative record data from college transcripts, Unemployment Insurance wage data, and enrollment and graduation data from the National Student Clearinghouse across 830,000 community college students between 2001 and 2010. Findings from this study confirm those from earlier work: The returns to certificates and diplomas were weak, but associate and bachelor’s degrees yielded very strong returns; even small accumulations of credits had labor market value; and the returns to health sector credentials were extremely high. Returns were much higher for female students than for male students. Despite the Great Recession, analysis reveals little evidence that the returns to college decreased over the latter half of the 2000s. However, medium-term estimates likely understate the full value of college credentials, particularly bachelor’s degrees

Structure in Community College Career-Technical Programs: A Qualitative Analysis

Using data obtained from interviews and program websites at Washington community and technical colleges, the authors of this study examine the structure of community college career-technical programs in allied health, business and marketing, computer and information studies, and mechanics and repair. A framework for structure with four dimensions—program alignment, program prescription, information quality, and active program advising and support—is used to evaluate the practices of relatively high- and low-performing colleges within each field of study. The authors reviewed the websites of all programs at high- and low-performing colleges in each of these fields of study and conducted case studies on individual programs from these fields, interviewing faculty, administrators, and counselors to learn more about the dimensions of structure in the programs. The allied health, computer and information science, and mechanics and repair programs were all found to be highly structured; the business and marketing programs were found to have a moderate level of structure. Overall, given that all of the programs were at least moderately structured, there was limited evidence of a connection between program structure and program performance