Do community colleges really divert students from earning bachelor's degrees?

Leigh, Duane E.; Gill, Andrew M.

doi:10.1016/s0272-7757(01)00057-7

Cited by 125 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Our results are also consistent with previous evidence of a graduation rate penalty associated with choosing a 2-year college instead of a 4-year college (Rouse 1995(Rouse , 1998Leigh and Gill 2003;Long and Kurlaender 2009;Reynolds 2012;Smith and Stange 2015). Such a penalty may stem from the substantial differences across these two sectors along multiple dimensions, including peer quality, faculty quantity and quality, and funding levels more generally, which affect the quantity and quality of academic resources available to students.…”

supporting

confidence: 90%

Access to 4-Year Public Colleges and Degree Completion

Goodman

Hurwitz

Smith

2017

Journal of Labor Economics

100

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Does access to 4-year colleges affect degree completion for students who would otherwise attend 2-year colleges? Admission to Georgia's 4-year public sector requires minimum SAT scores. Regression discontinuity estimates show that access to this sector increases 4-year college enrollment and college quality, largely by diverting students from 2-year colleges. Access substantially increases bachelor's degree completion rates for these relatively low-skilled students. SATretaking behavior suggests students value access to 4-year public colleges, though perhaps less than they should. Our results imply that absolute college quality matters more than match quality, and they suggest potential unintended consequences of free community college proposals.

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supporting

confidence: 90%

Access to 4-Year Public Colleges and Degree Completion

Goodman

Hurwitz

Smith

2017

Journal of Labor Economics

100

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“…Much of the literature on the impact of college quality on degree completion has focused on the community college sector, reaching varying conclusions about whether access to and quality of community colleges affects educational attainment (Rouse 1995, Leigh and Gill 2003, Sandy et al 2006, Calcagno et al 2008, Stange 2009, Reynolds 2012. Estimates of the impact of college quality on labor market earnings are similarly varied, with some positive (Loury and Garman 1995, Brewer et al 1999, Chevalier and Conlon 2003, Black and Smith 2004, Black and Smith 2006, Long 2008, Hoekstra 2009, Andrews et al 2012, some zero or positive only for disadvantaged subgroups Krueger 2002, Dale andKrueger 2011), and some suggesting that earnings differences dissipate once the job market properly understands graduates' underlying ability (Brand andHalaby 2006, Lang andSiniver 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Merit Aid, College Quality, and College Completion: Massachusetts' Adams Scholarship as an In-Kind Subsidy

Cohodes

Goodman

2014

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

243

197

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We analyze a Massachusetts merit aid program that gives high-scoring students tuition waivers at in-state public colleges with lower graduation rates than available alternative colleges. A regression discontinuity design comparing students just above and below the eligibility threshold finds that students are remarkably willing to forgo college quality and that scholarship use actually lowered college completion rates. These results suggest that college quality affects college completion rates. The theoretical prediction that in-kind subsidies of public institutions can reduce consumption of the subsidized good is shown to be empirically important.

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“…The effect of percent Hispanic is marginally significant at the ten-percent level in the logit and probit models. For community college attendance, the significance level of the percent Hispanic effect on four-year college attendance, providing no support for the argument that community colleges divert attendance from four-year institutions (Rouse, 1995;Gill and Leigh, 2003;Doyle, 2009). The distance to the nearest four-year college is negatively associated with attendance, consistent with previous research (Alm and Winters, 2009, and references cited therein).…”

Section: Does It Matter Where You Live?mentioning

confidence: 53%

Back to school: An application of human capital theory for mature workers

Jepsen

Montgomery

2012

Economics of Education Review

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Publication informationEconomics of Education Review, 31 (1): 168-178 Publisher ElsevierItem record/more information http://hdl.handle.net/10197/4435 There is a vast literature on the decision to enroll in higher education, but it focuses almost entirely on traditional students: 18 year olds graduating from high school. Yet less than half of students at degree-granting institutions are in the traditional 18-22 age range; nearly 40 percent are at least 25. This paper examines the enrollment behavior of persons 25 or older. We use data from a large-scale 1998 Department of Labor (DOL) policy demonstration in Greater Baltimore. By studying the behavior of older people we can examine such factors such as age, earnings and marital status that vary little among the much-studied traditional students. Our results conform to the (rarely tested) predictions of human capital theory that age and opportunity costs are impediments to enrollment. We also find that where you live has a substantial impact on whether you return to school. Publisher's statement þÿ T h i s i s t h e a u t h oJEL Classification: I23

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Do community colleges really divert students from earning bachelor's degrees?

Cited by 125 publications

References 13 publications

Access to 4-Year Public Colleges and Degree Completion

Access to 4-Year Public Colleges and Degree Completion

Merit Aid, College Quality, and College Completion: Massachusetts' Adams Scholarship as an In-Kind Subsidy

Back to school: An application of human capital theory for mature workers

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