Examining the Relationship Between 2-year College Entry and Baccalaureate Aspirants’ Academic and Labor Market Outcomes: Impacts, Heterogeneity, and Mechanisms

Di Xu (), Sabrina Solanki () and Ashley Harlow ()
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Di Xu: University of California, Irvine
Sabrina Solanki: University of California, Irvine
Ashley Harlow: University of California, Irvine

Research in Higher Education, 2020, vol. 61, issue 3, No 1, 297-329

Abstract: Abstract Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), this paper analyzes students’ baccalaureate attainment and early labor market performance, comparing 2-year college and 4-year institution entrants and exploring the potential heterogeneous treatment effects of initiating one’s college experience in a 2-year college by individual pre-college academic preparation. Utilizing propensity score matching on a rich set of student demographic characteristics, academic and high school attributes, we find that 2-year college entry sharply reduces baccalaureate aspirants’ likelihood of earning a baccalaureate, and such negative effects are particularly pronounced for students in the highest quartile of pre-college math ability. In terms of labor market outcomes, female 2-year college entrants are less likely to gain full-time employment, as compared to their female 4-year institution counterparts. We also examine various mechanisms that may hinder 2-year college entrants’ baccalaureate completion, including the impact of 2-year college attendance on early academic progress, challenges of the transfer process, loss of credits at the point of transfer, and post-transfer academic shock. Our results provide suggestive evidence in support of all four mechanisms.

Keywords: Vertical transfer; Propensity score matching; Labor market outcomes; Heterogeneous impacts; Mechanisms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1007/s11162-019-09559-7

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