Are community colleges beneficial in general?

The Rochester area is home to a number of community colleges such as Monroe Community College, Finger Lakes Community College, and Genesee Community College. Even though student enrollment in these institutions has recently been falling, they still educate large numbers of local and in-state students. Nationwide, two-year community colleges enroll almost half of all first-time undergraduates.

Given the sheer volume of students who pass through community colleges and given that there are many relatively inexpensive, four-year college options available to students, it makes sense to ask whether, in a general sense, community colleges are contributing to the society in which we live.

The answer to this question is not straightforward because there are two basic forces at work and they pull in opposite directions. First, given the fact that the gap between the earnings of high school and college graduates has almost doubled since the early 1980s, a number of policy makers have focused on community colleges with the aim of expanding educational access. The hope here is that this expansion will increase the likelihood of post-secondary attainment and upward mobility in society for a larger number of young Americans. When one accounts for the fact that low-income students disproportionately attend community colleges, this hope is perhaps more laudable than it may seem at first blush.

Second, however, even if policy succeeds in increasing enrollment in two-year community colleges, it may also be the case that greater access to two-year community colleges diverts college-bound students from directly matriculating into generally better-resourced four-year institutions. Empirically, is this “diversion” argument salient? The answer, it turns out, is yes.

The available data show that as far as community college students are concerned, degree completion and upward transfer rates are both low. Specifically, although 81 percent of community college students begin their education with the intention of earning a bachelor’s degree, only 33 percent actually transfer to a four-year institution within six years, and only 14 percent actually complete a bachelor’s degree.

In contrast, 60 percent of students who begin college directly at a four-year institution complete a bachelor’s degree over the same time period. In addition, there are noteworthy gaps in the outcomes of two-year and four-year students even when one adjusts for observable differences in test scores and demographic backgrounds.

Given this positive “expansion” force and the negative “diversion” force, what we would like to know is the net picture. Specifically, does the expansion force dominate the diversion force or is the converse true? Although many researchers have shed light on this question, the evidence thus far has been mixed, in part because of the difficulties associated with developing new econometric tools that are needed to credibly answer the “net picture” question.

These methodological challenges have largely been overcome in exciting new research by John Mountjoy. His painstaking research with large amounts of data yields three noteworthy results. First, increased access to two-year colleges enhances both educational attainment and earnings on net. Second, despite this positive net impact, approximately 33 percent of all two-year entrants are diverted from four-year entry and these entrants complete less education. In other words, the “diversion” force is definitely present and its impact is not negligible. Finally, the previous two results are driven significantly by women and not men, and the expanded access to two-year community colleges boosts the mobility and the earnings of low-income students.

Even though policies are needed to minimize the negative impact of the “diversion” force, expanding access to two-year community colleges has a “democratizing” effect on higher education in that students who would otherwise not attend college at all are now induced to attend and thereby improve their own mobility and earnings prospects.

In sum, community colleges are beneficial in general and Rochester-area residents ought to be proud of our community colleges that have a history of altering lives and ameliorating the economic and social mobility of young Rochesterians specifically and New Yorkers generally.

Amitrajeet Batabyal is a Distinguished Professor, the Arthur J. Gosnell professor of economics, and the Interim Head of the Sustainability Department, all at RIT, but these views are his own. The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. Submissions to the Letters page should be sent to [email protected].