Briefing

Community College as a Steppingstone

Abstract: This article explores a model based on a theory of education in which high school students face three choices upon graduation: Join the workforce, enroll in a two-year college or enroll in a four-year university. In this model, academic two-year colleges can act as a steppingstone. Students enrolled in these two-year colleges can learn about their academic skills in a less expensive environment and transfer to a four-year university with a portion of their credits. This model finds that the options such as transferring and dropping out explain a large portion of the return to enrollment in higher education institutions.

Keywords: Community colleges; graduation rates;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Part of Series: Richmond Fed Economic Brief

Publication Date: 2022-12

Volume: 22

Issue: 50