Most of the students who set out to earn degrees in community colleges never do. Interventions that simplify the complex organizational structures of these schools are promising solutions to this problem. This article is the first to provide rigorous evidence of the effects of structured transfer programs, one such intervention. Leveraging the phased rollout of transfer programs in California, I find large effects of the policy on degrees earned in treated departments. In the first 2 years, this growth was not coupled with growth in total degrees granted or in transfers, but in the third year, there is evidence of increased transfer. The analyses also show that the policy could affect equity; departments that offer transfer degrees became more popular and there is suggestive evidence that the highest achieving student groups enrolled in these classes at higher rates.
AndersonG.SunJ. C.AlfonsoM. (2006). Effectiveness of statewide articulation agreements on the probability of transfer: A preliminary policy analysis. The Review of Higher Education, 29, 261–291.
2.
AverettS.DalessandroS. (2010). Racial and gender differences in the returns to 2-year and 4-year degrees. Education Economics, 9, 281–292.
3.
BahrP. R. (2013). The deconstructive approach to understanding community college students’ pathways and outcomes. Community College Review, 41, 137–153.
4.
BahrP. R. (2014). The labor market return in earnings to community college credits in California. Ann Arbor: Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, School of Education, University of Michigan. Retrieved from http://www.soe.umich.edu/people/profile/peter_riley_bahr/
BeckerG. S. (1962). Investment in human capital: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Political Economy, 70(5), 9–49.
7.
BelfieldC.BaileyT. (2011). The benefits of attending community college: A review of the evidence. Community College Review, 39, 46–68.
8.
BersT. H. (2013). Deciphering articulation and state/system policies and agreements. New Directions for Higher Education, 2013(162), 17–26.
9.
BettingerE.BakerR. (2014). The effects of student coaching: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student advising. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36, 3–19.
10.
BettingerE.LongB. T.OreopoulosP.SanbonmatsuL. (2012). The role of application assistance and information in college decisions: Results from the H&R Block FAFSA Experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 127, 1205–1242.
DadgarM.TrimbleM. (2014). Labor market returns to sub-baccalaureate credentials: How much does a community college degree or certificate pay?Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 37, 399–418.
16.
DerbyD.SmithT. (2004). An orientation course and community college retention. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 28, 763–773.
GrossB.GoldhaberD. D. (2009). Community college transfer and articulation policies: Looking beneath the surface. Bothell, WA: Center on Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington.
19.
GrubbW. N. (2002). Learning and earning in the middle, part I: National studies of pre-baccalaureate education. Economics of Education Review, 21, 299–321.
20.
HartleyH.SielkenR. (1975). A “super-population viewpoint” for finite population sampling. Biometrics, 31, 411–422.
21.
HillmanN. (2014). College on credit: A multilevel analysis of student loan default. The Review of Higher Education, 37, 169–195.
22.
IyengarS. S.LepperM. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing?Journal of Personality Processes and Individual Differences, 79, 995–1006.
23.
JacobsonL.LaLondeR.SullivanD. (2005). Estimating the returns to community college schooling for displaced workers. Journal of Econometrics, 125, 271–304.
24.
JaegerD.PageM. (1996). Degrees matter: New evidence on sheepskin effects in the returns to education. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 78, 733–740.
25.
JenkinsD.ChoS. W. (2012). Get with the program: Accelerating community college students’ entry into and completion of programs of study (Community College Research Center Working Paper No. 32). Retrieved from http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/publications/get-with-the-program.html
JepsenC.TroskeK.CoomesP. (2014). The labor-market returns for community college degrees, diplomas, and certificates. Journal of Labor Economics, 32, 95–121.
KurlaenderM.CarrellS.JacksonJ. (2016). The promises and pitfalls of measuring community college quality. Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2, 174–190.
33.
LevyP. S.LemeshowS. (1991). Sampling of populations: Methods and applications. New York, NY: Wiley.
34.
MitchellM.PalaciosV.LeachmanM. (2014). States are still funding higher education below pre-recession levels. Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
35.
MooreC.ShulockN. (2010). Divided we fail: Improving completion and closing racial gaps in California’s community colleges. Sacramento, CA: Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy, California State University.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2010). 2003-04 beginning postsecondary students: After 6 years. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
38.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2011). Community college student outcomes: 1994–2009, Web Tables (NCES 2012-253). Washington, DC: Author.
39.
NewmannF.SmithB.AllensworthE.BrykA. (2001). Instructional program coherence: What is it and why it should guide school improvement policy. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23, 297–321.
40.
RoksaJ. (2009). Building bridges for student success: Are higher education articulation policies effective?The Teachers College Record, 111, 2444–2478.
41.
RosenbaumJ. E.Deil-AmenR.PersonA. E. (2006). After admission: From college access to college success. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
ScrivenerS.WeissM. (2013, December). More graduates: Two-year results from an evaluation of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) for Developmental Education Students (MDRC Policy Brief). Retrieved from http://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/More_Graduates.pdf
44.
Senate Bill 1440, 2009-2010 Reg. Sess., ch. 428 (Cal. 2010).
45.
SimonH. (1976). Administrative behavior. New York, NY: The Free Press.
46.
StevensA. H.KurlaenderM.GroszM. (2015). Career technical education and labor market outcomes: Evidence from California community colleges (National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 21137). Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w21137
47.
TintoV. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence. Journal of Higher Education, 68, 599–623.
48.
TurnerS. E. (2004). Going to college and finishing college: Explaining different educational outcomes. In HoxbyC. M. (Ed.), College choices: The economics of where to go, when to go, and how to pay for it (pp. 13–61). Chicago, IL: National Bureau of Economic Research.
