Abstract
This study investigated the freshman-year cognitive impacts of five 2-year and six 4-year colleges drawn from all sections of the United States. Controlling for individual precollege ability, there was a general parity between 2-year and 4-year college students on end-of-freshman year reading comprehension, mathematics, critical thinking, and composite achievement. This general parity, however, masked conditional effects based on gender and ethnicity. Men benefited cognitively more from 2-year colleges, whereas women realized greater cognitive returns from 4-year colleges. Non-White students benefited more from a 2-year college, whereas the reverse was true for their White counterparts.
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