Earning an Associate Degree Before Transfer Boosts Students’ Likelihood of Earning Four-Year Degree

NEW YORK, NY— Community college students who transfer to four-year colleges with an associate degree are more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than similar students who transfer without one, a new study has found.

Nationally, nearly two-thirds of community college students who transfer to four-year colleges do so without first earning an associate degree. And while over 80 percent of all entering community colleges indicate that they intend to earn a bachelor’s degree, only 15 percent end up doing so within six years.

The study, from the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, compared outcomes for first-time-in-college students who enrolled in a state community college system between 2002 and 2005 and earned between 50 and 90 credits before transferring to a four-year college (60 credits are the average required for an associate degree).

After matching individual students with 50+ community college credits and similar background characteristics, the analysis found that students who transferred with an associate degree had a distinct advantage: they were 49 percent more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree within four years, and 22 percent more likely to earn one within six years.

The findings also indicate that different kinds of associate degrees have disparate impacts on bachelor’s degree completion. Associate of Arts (AA) and Associate of Science (AS) degrees, both of which are transfer oriented degrees, significantly increased students’ likelihood of earning a bachelor’s degree. Students who earned an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degrees — two-year degrees designed for direct entry into the workforce — were less likely than students with 50+ credits but no degree to complete a bachelor’s after transfer.

The students under study attended college in a state with an articulation agreement that guarantees full “credit capture” for students who transfer to public four-years with an associate degree. The authors hypothesize that community college students who transfer without an AA or AS degree may have difficulty transferring all their credits, which can delay — or even completely derail — bachelor’s degree completion.

This possibility is supported by findings from a recent CUNY study, which found that 42 percent of transfer students lost at least 10 percent — and sometimes all — of their accumulated community college credits, and that students who were able to transfer 90 percent or more of their credits were two and half times as likely to complete a bachelor’s degree as students who transferred less than half their credits.

The apparent disadvantage accruing to students transferring with an AAS degree may also be attributable to credit loss: the state’s articulation agreement does not guarantee credit capture for AAS degree holders.

The findings provide tantalizing evidence that encouraging students to earn an associate degree before they transfer, coupled with state policies that guarantee credit transfer for associate degree holders, could significantly increase national rates of bachelor’s degree completion.

Featured

  • Springfield Breaks Ground on $53.7M Pipkin Middle School Rebuild

    Construction is underway on a new, state-of-the-art Pipkin Middle School in Springfield, Mo., a major step in Springfield Public Schools’ (SPS) long-term facility improvement plan, according to local news. The $53.7-million project officially broke ground in early June, following years of planning and community input aimed at modernizing aging infrastructure and addressing student capacity concerns.

  • ProTeam Launches GoFit 6 HEPA Backpack Vacuum

    Technology leader Emerson recently introduced the new ProTeam GoFit 6 HEPA backpack vacuum, according to a news release. The vacuum was designed to capture 99.97% of particulates down to 0.3 microns—including atmospheric hazards like lead dust, mold spores, and other particulates—through an advanced filtration system.

  • California High School Starts Construction on New CTE Building

    Analy High School, part of the West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD) in Sebastopol, Calif., recently broke ground on a new Career Technical Education (CTE) Building, according to a news release. The 15,000-square-foot facility will offer specialized facilities for students in engineering, welding, culinary arts, agricultural sciences, and design thinking.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Introduces Claude for Education

    Anthropic has launched a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

Digital Edition