Factors Associated With Student Academic Achievement at Community Colleges

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongwei Yu
Keyword(s):  
Community Colleges ◽  
Student Retention ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Multilevel Modeling ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Student Academic Achievement ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Education Data ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives

Student retention has garnered increased attentions in higher education. Drawing from various theoretical perspectives, researchers have developed multiple theoretical models to explain or predict student retention. Most models, however, were intended for traditional aged, full-time students at 4-year colleges or universities. The rapid growth of student enrollment at 2-year community colleges calls for further studies concerning student retention at these institutions. Built upon prior studies, I developed a conceptual framework to understand student credential completion at 2-year community colleges. Drawing data from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS: 04/09) Longitudinal Study, I utilized multilevel modeling to identify variables that explain students’ likelihood of credential completion.

How Noncredit Enrollments Distort Community College IPEDS Data: An Eight-State Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Romano ◽  
Mark D’Amico
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
New York ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
System Level ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Full Time Equivalent ◽  
Education Data ◽  
State Study

A commonly used metric for measuring college costs, drawn from data in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), is expenditure per full-time equivalent (FTE) student. This article discusses an error in this per FTE calculation when using IPEDS data, especially with regard to community colleges. The problem is that expenditures for noncredit courses are reported to IPEDS but enrollments are not. This exclusion inflates any per FTE student figure calculated from IPEDS, in particular expenditures and revenues. A 2021 IPEDS Technical Review Panel (TRP #62) acknowledged this problem and moved campus institutional research offices a step closer to reporting noncredit enrollment data (RTI International, 2021). This article is the first to provide some numbers on the magnitude of this problem. It covers eight states—California, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Data on noncredit community college enrollments were made available from system offices in all states. In addition, discussions were held at both the system level and the campus level to verify the data and assumptions. Figures provided by states were merged with existing IPEDS data at the campus and state levels, and then were adjusted to account for noncredit enrollments. The results provide evidence that calculations using IPEDS data alone overestimate the resources that community colleges have to spend on each student, although distortions vary greatly between states and among colleges in the same state. The results have important implications for research studies and college benchmarking.

Adjusting College Costs for Noncredit Enrollments: An Issue for Data Geeks or Policy Makers?

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-177
Author(s):  
Richard M. Romano ◽  
Rita J. Kirshstein ◽  
Mark D’Amico ◽  
Willard Hom ◽  
Michelle Van Noy
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Full Time Equivalent ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
College Costs ◽  
Education Data ◽  
Project Data ◽  
The Impact

Objective: In the first study of its kind, the impact of excluding noncredit enrollments in calculations of spending in community colleges is explored. Noncredit enrollments are not reported to Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), but expenditures for these efforts are. This study corrects for this omission and provides new estimates of spending on community college students in four states. Method: Data on noncredit enrollments were made available from four states—New York, New Jersey, California, and North Carolina. Interviews with campus and state officials within each state helped us verify the findings. In addition, Delta Cost Project data were analyzed and adjusted to account for noncredit enrollments. Results: Our analysis indicates that the expenditure per full-time equivalent (FTE) student measure, which researchers typically use, seriously overstates the resources that community colleges have to spend on educating students; however, great variations exist within and across states. Conclusion: Community colleges are underfunded to an even greater extent than standard IPEDS analyses indicate.

scholarly journals Heterogeneity of Older Learners in Higher Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phyllis A. Cummins ◽  
J. Scott Brown ◽  
Peter Riley Bahr ◽  
Nader Mehri
Keyword(s):  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Postsecondary Institutions ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Older Learners ◽  
Public College ◽  
Enrollment Trends ◽  
Education Data ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Time Basis

Recent years have seen growing recognition of the importance of a college-educated workforce to meet the needs of employers and ensure economic growth. Lifelong learning, including completing a postsecondary credential, increasingly is necessary to improve employment outcomes among workers, both old and young, who face rising demands for new and improved skills. To satisfy these needs, many states have established postsecondary completion goals pertaining to the segments of their population ages 25 to 64 years. Although it is not always clear how completion goals will be attained for older students, it is widely recognized that community colleges will play an important role. Here, we use data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to examine enrollment trends by part-time and full-time status for students enrolled in Ohio’s public postsecondary institutions from 2006 to 2014. Unlike previous research that considers all students 25 and older as a homogeneous group, we divide older learners into two groups: ages 25 to 39 and ages 40 to 64. We find that adults in these age groups who attend a public college are more likely to attend a community college than they are a 4-year institution and are more likely to attend on a part-time basis. We discuss the implications of these trends and their relevance to college administrators.

scholarly journals Repositioning Trends of Latina/o/x Student Enrollments in Community Colleges

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Desiree D. Zerquera ◽  
Nancy Acevedo-Gil ◽  
Elizabeth Flores ◽  
Patrick Marantal
Keyword(s):  
Community Colleges ◽  
Postsecondary Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
College Going ◽  
Education Data ◽  
Educational Pathways ◽  
Student College ◽  
Enrollment Data ◽  
The U.S

This study used descriptive statistics to complicate the national narrative of Latina/o/x student college-going trends and aims to provide directions for future research on Latina/o/x students in the community college. Taking a state-by-state perspective, this study examined whether Latina/o/x college students enrolled in community colleges at higher rates than four-year colleges. The data for this study derived primarily from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) enrollment survey for all states and sectors of higher education for the 2012-2013 academic year. We used geographic information systems (GIS) to spatially analyze and compare proportions of Latina/o/x undergraduate enrollments between sectors within states, then across states. Our analysis disaggregated enrollment data by state to reveal important variations among Latina/o/x student enrollments at community colleges across the U.S. In so doing, we aim to inform the work of researchers, policy makers, administrators and educators in efforts to support the educational pathways of Latina/o/x students in the U.S.

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