Community College Transfers in North Carolina: Examining Multiple Pathways to Student Success

Paul Umbach and Jeremy TuchmayerNorth Carolina State University

College Access Conference 2012February 22, 2012

Plan for session

• Background and context of the North Carolina Higher Education Research Consortium (NC-HERC)

• Transfer student success in NC• If we have time, a brief discussion of

financial aid work

Background and Context

Purposes of NC-HERC

• To conduct sound research that informs policies and practices aimed at improving college student access and success in North Carolina

• To connect researchers across the state who have an interest in college student success

• To develop a long-term sustainable research agenda that informs policy in the state of North Carolina

General NC-HERC Activities

1. Conduct a comprehensive study of NC community college students who transfer to one of the UNC member institutions

2. Enlist an advisory board to help inform and guide the work of the consortium

3. Conduct a study of financial aid and student success at UNC

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Who are we?

• Advisory Board– Charles Clotfelter, Duke– Lora Cohen-Vogel, UNC-

Chapel Hill– Wanda Lester, NCA&T– Terri Manning, CPCC– Ontario Wooden, NCCU

• NC-HERC Team – Paul Umbach– Jeremy

Tuchmayer– Kyle Verbosh

• Ex officio Board Members– Karrie Dixon, UNC-

GA– Jayne Fleener,

NCSU– Bruce Mallette,

UNC-GA– Van Wilson, NCCCS

• NC-HERC Affiliates – Joy Gayles, NCSU– Steve Porter,

NCSU

Transfer student success

Why transfers? Why now?

• Comprehensive articulation agreement in place since 1996 with relatively minor revisions since

• Recent (or maybe not so recent) increases in students who enroll in multiple institutions

• No comprehensive study of NC college students that takes into account the complications related to research on transfer students

Things to consider when studying college student transfers

• Variety of things complicate the study of transfers

• We offer 4 Complicating Opportunities for

Research Nerds (CORNs)

• CORNs are things we’re attempting to address in our work, but they also put previous research into context

CORN #1: Selection bias

• In what ways is a student who enrolls at a community college different than one who starts at a 4-year school? How might these differences affect research results?

• Always an issue where there is no random assignment

• We must account for the issue of selection bias in our research

CORN #2: Diverse enrollment patterns

• What does it mean to be a transfer student?

• Research suggests that a majority of students now attend more than one institution before earning a degree– Simultaneous enrollment, swirling, early colleges

• Studies also show that students are taking longer to complete their degree

CORN #3: Diversity of students

• Who are transfer students and what implications does that have for studying them?

• Student diversity requires that we understand how transferring may differentially affect student groups traditionally underserved by higher education (e.g., first-generation college students, adult students, low-income students, students of color)

CORN #4: Diversity of outcomes

• Does success mean the same thing for everyone?

• Range of outcomes (GPA, persistence,

time-to-degree, indebtedness), rather than rely on a single measure of success

Transfer student success research questions1. What are the characteristics of students,

community colleges, and 4-year institutions that are related to student success? To what extent do these characteristics differentially influence the success of traditionally underserved populations?

2. To what extent are there differences in the transfer and “native” student success?

3. To what extent are there differences in progress to degree and degree attainment of students who start at 4-year institutions vs. community colleges?

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RQ1: What are the characteristics of students, community colleges, and 4-year institutions related to student success? • Analytical approach

– Only examining transfers – Descriptive analyses– Cross-classified random effects model that allows us to

explore characteristics of students, NC CCs, and UNC institutions along with factors that differentially affect student groups

– Will define transfer variously (will guide other work)– Outcomes include GPA, persistence, credit accumulation,

time-to-degree, indebtedness

• Potential implications for policy and practice

RQ2: To what extent are there differences in the transfer and “native” student success?

• Analytical approach– Descriptive analyses– Attempt to account for selection (Propensity

score matching, IV)– Utilize variety of outcomes (e.g. persistence,

degree completion, GPA)

• Potential implications for policy and practice

RQ3: To what extent are there differences in progress to degree and degree attainment of students who start at the 4-year vs. community colleges? • Analytical approach

– Replicate Bettinger & Long’s (2009) Ohio study– Attempt to account for selection (Propensity

score matching, IV)– Utilize a variety of outcomes (e.g. persistence

and degree completion)

• Potential implications for policy and practice

Other potential avenues of inquiry

• Course taking patterns and success– e.g., math and English sequences, remedial

courses, ACA courses, other

• Veteran students• Intersection of financial aid and transfer

success• Scouring the literature (and the state) for best

practices related to transfer student success

Financial aid and student success

Financial aid and student success

• Income gap in degree attainment persists and some have suggested has widened in recent years

• Know little about how financial aid programs and indebtedness affect college student degree progress

• Recent research suggests that how student aid is packaged, along with changes in packages over a student’s academic career, affects the likelihood of stopout, re-enrollment, and degree attainment

RQ: How do variations in financial aid packaging relate to student success?• Use of survival analysis to analyze students

and UNC institutions• Time varying effects (e.g., frontloading aid) of

various aid packages on student success (e.g., stop-out, drop-out, degree attainment)

• Explore how these effects vary across different student populations (e.g., first generation college students, students of color).

Pack Promise study (with affiliate Steve Porter)• Much of the work in this area relies on

methods that do not effectively account for selection

• Pack Promise seeks to reduce indebtedness of incoming freshmen who have a family income at or below 150% of the federal poverty level

• Until this year, guaranteed debt level to not exceed $2500 annually

Veterans benefits study• To what extent does the variance in veteran’s

educational benefits affect progress towards degree and degree completion?– Descriptive analyses– Regression analysis– Quasi-experimental study 1 - Progress toward

degree of “native” versus transfer using PSM and IV

– Quasi experimental study 2 - Veteran’s success vs. non-veteran’s using PSM to account for selection

– Challenges (e.g. variations in policies, disentangling effects, lack of national data)

For additional questions or comments contact us at the following:

Paul Umbach: paul_umbach@ncsu.edu

Jeremy Tuchmayer: jeremy_tuchmayer@ncsu.edu