Are beginning community college students achieving their degree goals?

Source:: Skomsvold, P., Radford, A.W., and Berkner, L. (2011). Web Tables: Six-Year Attainment, Persistence, Transfer, Retention, and Withdrawal Rates of Students Who Began Postsecondary Education in 2003-04, Tables 1.1-B (NCES 2011-152). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011152.pdf

Main Finding

Most community college students expect from the beginning of their education that they will eventually earn a bachelor’s degree and perhaps attain an advanced degree. Some of those who were beginning students at community colleges in the 2003/04 academic year had earned a bachelor’s degree by spring 2009 while others were still in school or had left school, at least temporarily.

Key Observations

Nearly 4 in 10 postsecondary students who began their education at a community college in the 2003/04 academic year expected that they would eventually earn a bachelor’s degree. By spring 2009, 11% of the cohort had attained that goal and another 6% were still enrolled in a 4-year institution.
An associate’s degree was the highest degree expectation of 15% of beginning community college students in 2003/04, and 15% of the cohort had earned that degree by spring 2009 and were no longer in college.
Although only 4% of the 2003/04 cohort expected that a certificate would be their highest credential, 10% of the students had earned a certificate by spring 2009 and were no longer in college.
About 12% of the 2003/04 beginning community college students were enrolled in a less than 4-year institution in spring 2009.
Nearly half (46%) of the 2003/04 beginning students had not attained a degree or certificate by spring 2009 and were no longer enrolled in college.