Two-year college transfer education has been promoted as a cost-effective path for achieving the baccalaureate, but increased time-to-degree could nullify this assumption. The Montana University System (MUS) recently expanded the mission for its two-year college system by adding the transfer function. This non-experimental quantitative research…

In this descriptive study, the academic success (graduation rate, graduating grade-point-average, semesters to graduation) and the patterns of academic engagement (time from first to last enrollment, characteristics of the "time-outs" taken, between-semester volatility in grade-point-average) for five groups of students with psychiatric…

In this brief, the authors propose three measures of "early momentum" for two reasons: Research is beginning to show that these near-term metrics predict long-term success, and the metrics focus attention on initial conditions at colleges that are particularly important for solidifying the foundation for student success. While these…

Objective: Recent studies have shown that community college transfer students are just as likely to graduate with a bachelor's degree as students who directly enroll in a 4-year institution. However, these studies do not typically examine whether there is a penalty for community college students in terms of the length of time it takes to complete…

A college degree is often viewed as a key step toward better employment and higher earnings. Many community college students, however, never graduate and cannot reap the financial benefits associated with a college degree. Although existing research suggests that financial aid interventions can modestly improve students' short-term academic…

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of prior learning assessment (PLA) in postsecondary degree completion for adult community college students at Mountwest Community and Technical College (MCTC). The study group consisted of 339 MCTC graduates, who applied PLA credits toward degree completion between the academic year 2006 and 2011.…

The purpose of this study is to describe the perceptions held by selected community leaders about the role of the community college and the community college president in connecting with and serving the needs of the community. These leaders' perceptions and views are compared to the documented missions of the colleges selected for study. Six rural…

A seismic economic shift has changed the rules by which Americans strive to get ahead in society. Hard work, once the bedrock of opportunity, is no longer sufficient in and of itself to ensure individual prosperity and security for either individuals or the larger community. The consequence of this new economy is the need to educate students in…

This issue of "The Progress of Education Reform" will look at recent research on transfer and articulation in light of the new movement to increase degree attainment by addressing the following three questions: (1) Do articulation agreements ease the transfer process and lead to degree attainment; (2) what are the factors that facilitate…

This paper presents findings from a study of the experiences and outcomes of older and younger community college students. We developed a discrete-time hazard model using longitudinal transcript data on a cohort of first-time community college students in Florida to compare the impact of enrollment pathways (such as remediation) and enrollment…

Using the data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" is the second of a two-part series investigating the characteristics of late stop-outs--students who accumulate at least 30 credits within the first two years, only to stop out without completing credentials or transferring. The data show that male…

Measuring the progress of students toward completing their college education is an important gauge of how well California's postsecondary education systems are meeting the needs of students and the public. This report provides an assessment of persistence as a measure of student success at California's public universities and is one of a series of…

To measure the amount of time it takes to earn an Associate of Arts degree at the San Diego Community College District, a study was undertaken of the number of years and number of semesters graduating students at three district colleges had been enrolled. A random sample of 300 students was drawn from the 1,130 students graduating in June 1992,…

A study was conducted at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the University of Victoria (UV) to assess the academic performance of community college and technical institute transfer students in terms of baccalaureate degree attainment, time taken to complete the degree, rate of withdrawal, and final academic standing at the time the…

Using data on degree completion among black and white community college students, a study investigated how rates in different postsecondary programs vary for blacks and whites, changes over the course of the 1980s, and institutional characteristics encouraging program completion for the two groups. The most striking result was a decline in…