Document Tag: transfer
On Second Chances and Stratification: How Sociologists Think About Community Colleges (2014)
Community colleges increase college access, extending postsecondary educational opportunities to underserved students, yet, these students exhibit low rates of program completion and transfer to 4-year colleges. Sociological research on community colleges focuses on the tension between increasing educational opportunity and failing to improve equity in college completion across key demographics, such as race and socioeconomic status. This article provides an overview of sociology’s approach to understanding community colleges. We describe sociological theories, examine the contributions they make to the field, and discuss the discipline’s recent debates regarding community colleges. We conclude by highlighting research areas for further progress and discussing the role sociology could play in transforming community colleges.
Making Sense of Transitions: An Examination of Transfer among Economically Disadvantaged Undergraduates (2015)
At least one in three undergraduates attends more than one college, but we know little about how
students decide to transfer. Most studies about transfer are retrospective, quantitative, and/or
restricted to students who complete a transfer, thus missing the process through which students
reach transfer decisions. In contrast, this mixed methods, longitudinal study prospectively
examines a cohort of students across multiple colleges and universities over time. Based on data
from more than 200 interviews with 50 students from low-income Wisconsin families, we find
that about half of students consider transferring, but a substantial percentage ultimately decide to
persist at their initial institution. Other studies have ignored the deliberation process—and
existence—of this group. For all students who consider transfer, we illuminate a process of
discussion and reflection that is shaped by social class and social capital.
Following Their Every Move: An Investigation of Social-Class Differences in College Pathways (2006)
As more Americans enter college than ever before, their pathways through the broadly differentiated
higher education system are changing. Movement in, out, and among institutions now
characterizes students’ attendance patterns—half of all undergraduates who begin at a four-year
institution go on to attend at least one other college, and over one-third take some time off from
college after their initial enrollment. This study investigated whether there is social-class variation
in these patterns, with advantaged and disadvantaged students responding to new postsecondary
choices by engaging in different pathways. National longitudinal data from postsecondary
transcripts were used to follow students across schools and to examine the importance
of family background and high school preparation in predicting forms of college attendance. The
results demonstrate that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely than
are economically advantaged students (net of prior academic preparation) to follow pathways
that are characterized by interrupted movement. Such pathways appear to be less effective
routes to the timely completion of degrees. Thus, differences in how students attend college represent
an additional layer of stratification in higher education.
The Community College Effect Revisited: The Importance of Attending to Heterogeneity and Complex Counterfactuals (2012)
Community colleges are controversial educational institutions, often said to simultaneously expand college opportunities and diminish baccalaureate attainment. We assess the seemingly contradictory functions of community colleges by attending to effect heterogeneity and alternative counterfactual conditions. Using data on postsecondary outcomes of high school graduates of Chicago Public Schools, we find that enrolling at a community college penalizes more advantaged students who otherwise would have attended four-year colleges, particularly highly selective schools; however, these students represent a relatively small portion of the community college population, and these estimates are almost certainly biased. On the other hand, enrolling at a community college has a modest positive effect on bachelor’s degree completion for disadvantaged students who otherwise would not have attended college; these students represent the majority of community college-goers. We conclude that discussions among scholars, policymakers, and practitioners should move beyond considering the pros and cons of community college attendance for students in general to attending to the implications of community college attendance for targeted groups of students.