Working Paper: NBER ID: w22904
Authors: Scott E. Carrell; Michal Kurlaender
Abstract: The distinct mission and open-access nature of community colleges and the diverse goals of the students they serve make it difficult to assess differences in quality across community college campuses. In this paper, we investigate institutional differences in both the extensive and intensive margin of the transfer function across California's 108 community college campuses. Importantly, due to the richness of our dataset, we are able to adjust our estimates for a host of observed student differences, including scores on 11th grade math and English standardized tests. Results show there is significant variation in community college quality for both the probability of transfer as well as outcomes measuring how well students perform after transferring. Additionally, we examine whether any observable characteristics of the community college are significantly correlated with transfer productivity.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Community college quality (I23) | Probability of transferring to a four-year college (I23) |
| Community college quality (I23) | First-term GPA at CSU (C29) |
| Community college quality (I23) | Probability of persisting to year two (C41) |
| Community college quality (I23) | BA completion rates (M49) |
| Probability of transferring to a four-year college (I23) | First-term GPA at CSU (C29) |
| Probability of transferring to a four-year college (I23) | Probability of persisting to year two (C41) |
| Probability of transferring to a four-year college (I23) | BA completion rates (M49) |