Data show key role for community colleges in 4-year

of 7 (https://www.insidehighered.com) Data show key role for community colleges in 4-year degree production Submitted by Doug Lederman on September 10, 2012-3:00am The notion that community colleges are key to putting students on a path to a four-year degree is not a new one; large numbers of Americans begin their postsecondary studies at two-year colleges, and transfer is one of the institutions' traditional functions. But new data from the National Student Clearinghouse show just how prevalent a role two-year institutions play in providing an educational foundation for those who go on to get bachelor's degrees. The study [1] -- one of a series on student mobility that the clearinghouse has begun producing to capitalize on the unique data it collects as a repository of student-level information from more than 3,000 colleges -- reveals that 45 percent of all students who finished a four-year degree in 2010-11 had previously enrolled at a two-year college. Of those students, 24 percent had been enrolled at the two-year institution for just one term, 16 percent for two terms, and 19 percent for three or four terms. But a full 12 percent were enrolled for at least 10 terms, suggesting that even students who spend a significant length of time at a community college might eventually go on to a four-year college.

of 7 [2] The data also show that while some of those students take their time finishing degrees upon transferring to four-year institutions, more than half of them earn their bachelor's degrees within three years. Of the 45 percent of four-year-degree completers in 2010-11 who had studied at a community college, 16 percent earned their bachelor's degree within one year of enrolling at the four-year institution, and 36 percent had earned a degree within three years of enrolling. (Twenty-four percent earned degrees within 4 or 5 years, 11 percent within 6 or 7 years, and 7 percent in 10 or more years.)

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of 7 There is large variation among states in the rates at which four-year-degree holders had prepared at least in part at community colleges. As seen in the table below, onetime community college students made up more than half of the four-year-degree recipients in 13 states -- and more than three-quarters of such students in Texas. Percentage of Four-Year-Degree Recipients With Community College Backgrounds, by State State 2010-11 Degree Completers at 4-Year Degree Completers at 4-Year Who Previously Enrolled at 2- Year % of Degree Completers at 4-Year Who Previously Enrolled at 2-Year Texas 148,980 116,776 78% Wyoming 2,404 1,709 71% California 237,780 154,717 65% Kansas 22,458 14,651 65% Oregon 26,870 16,604 62% Mississippi 18,637 11,213 60% Oklahoma 26,215 15,164 58% Nebraska 19,343 11,034 57% Iowa 27,090 15,281 56% Missouri 62,119 34,870 56% Florida 112,371 61,644 55% Illinois 109,734 59,138 54% Arizona 142,973 73,869 52% Alabama 37,631 18,158 48% Arkansas 19,353 9,115 47% New Mexico 10,459 4,888 47% Tennessee 40,736 18,410 45% Virginia 69,969 31,239 45% South Carolina 30,628 13,401 44% Kentucky 30,882 13,355 43% Utah 36,533 15,618 43%

of 7 Colorado 34,471 14,577 42% Michigan 85,222 35,902 42% Washington 48,058 19,973 42% Maryland 39,733 15,949 40% Nevada 11,628 4,644 40% Hawaii 6,937 2,727 39% North Carolina 65,366 25,457 39% Minnesota 57,016 21,501 38% New Jersey 52,003 19,750 38% Louisiana 30,520 10,557 35% Wisconsin 45,871 16,207 35% Indiana 69,144 23,620 34% North Dakota 8,253 2,807 34% New York 202,842 67,883 33% Idaho 12,962 3,991 31% Ohio 93,543 28,893 31% West Virginia 14,677 4,593 31% Montana 6,369 1,887 30% Pennsylvania 126,093 37,375 30% Vermont 9,143 2,754 30% Connecticut 27,392 7,894 29% Georgia 57,717 17,002 29% District of Columbia 23,853 6,608 28% Rhode Island 16,645 4,608 28% South Dakota 6,834 1,699 25% Massachusetts 83,975 19,215 23% Maine 9,460 2,191 23% Delaware 8,844 1,935 22% New Hampshire 14,127 3,041 22% Alaska 3,733 718 19%

of 7 Totals 2,505,596 1,136,812 45% Community Colleges [4] Source URL: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/10/data-show-key-role-communitycolleges-4-year-degree-production?width=775&height=500&iframe=true Links: [1] http://www.studentclearinghouse.info/snapshot/docs/snapshotreport6-twoyearcontributions.pdf [2] https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/images/snapshot6_twoyear_chart2.jpg? width=500&height=500 [3] https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/images/snapshot6_twoyear_chart1.jpg? width=500&height=500 [4] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/focus/community_colleges