The Impact of Adopting a Community College Baccalaureate Policy on States' Graduation Rate and Enrollment: A Consideration for All and Latino Students

Community College Baccalaureate Policy Analysis;Education;Social Sciences;Higher Education

Vidal-Rodriguez, AngelaTorres, Vasti ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Community College Baccalaureate Policy Analysis;    Education;    Social Sciences;    Higher Education;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/150041/avidalr_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

This study evaluates the Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) as a regulatory change and its impact on undergraduate six-year graduation rate and enrollment at public four-year institutions for all students and for Latinos specifically. This policy diverges from the standard historical structure of higher education in the United States, which traditionally differentiates the missions of community colleges from those of four-year institutions. Moreover, the adoption of CCBs is an interesting policy experiment in that they appear to offer a solution that reconciles two seemingly conflicting preoccupations of state governments. These concerns include increased educational offerings, reduction of funding for bachelor’s degrees, and improvement in baccalaureate degree completion rates.In this dissertation, I demonstrate how shifting to a CCB policy influences enrollment and graduation rates at pubic four-year institutions.This study found that adopting a CCB policy has a positive effect on undergraduate enrollment for all students in public four-year institutions. It also indicated that the policy has a positive though statistically significant effect on the enrollment of Latinos. This investigation also found that the policy did not have any effect on average six-year graduation rates of Latinos or all other students. This study indicates that CCBs share the same conundrum that has daunted community colleges since their creation.CCBs expand educational access, but they may be playing a role in the growing stratification of higher education by excluding many Latino students from enrolling in four-year programs. Moreover, their impact on graduation rates reinforce the suspicion harbored by scholars about the frailty of community colleges in a political environment that focuses on reducing the cost of higher education. CCBs might be searching for more revenue sources to compensate for the declining support of state governments for higher education. However, as they are able to expand their reach, they are accepting funding at levels below other state universities offering bachelor’s degrees, in this way perpetuating the underfunding problem that they were hoping to alleviate. This study’s results make it -probable that underfunding issues may be affecting the service CCBs provide to baccalaureate-seeking students and ultimately their possibility of graduating.