For more than a century, community colleges have provided a postsecondary education alternative to the traditional, 4-year university. Enrolling disproportionate numbers of both disadvantaged and nontraditional students, the community college sector has seen unparalleled gains in enrollment over the past few decades. Along with these increases in…

Several studies have reported a positive impact of increased academic momentum on transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions. This result may be due to selection bias. Using data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students dataset, I test whether taking more credits in the first year has an impact on transfer rates among bachelor's…

Developmental education has been cited as one of the most difficult issues facing community colleges. Despite the controversy and changes to educational policy regarding developmental education, there is a notable dearth of rigorous research measuring the causal effect of remediation on community college student outcomes. The present study uses…

Community colleges are a large part of the nation's higher education system and provide an important access point to post-secondary education for many students. Transfer to a four-year institution is one of the many functions served by community colleges. Despite the importance of the transfer function, the process of transferring between higher…

This document profiles the goals, preparation, and outcomes of community college students using three data sources: the 1999-2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, the 1996/01 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, and the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, Fourth Follow-up. This study addresses the following…