The Characteristics of Occupational Students in Postsecondary Education. CCRC Brief Number 21.

Abstract

This Brief presents a profile of the enrollment, demographic, and educational characteristics, and the educational goals, of community college students in occupational programs. It compares their features with those of community college students in academic programs and with baccalaureate students. This analysis further considers the distinct features of occupational students enrolled in certificate degree programs. The Brief stands alone as a comparative description of these students, but also provides important background material for CCRC’s companion Briefs on postsecondary occupational students, Educational Outcomes of Postsecondary Occupational Students and Who Benefits from Postsecondary Occupational Education? Findings from the 1980s and 1990s. Community college students, as defined here, are those taking for-credit courses at a two-year or less than two-year institution, or at a four-year institution; and are pursuing a certificate or associate degree, or seeking no degree. Thus, community college student is a descriptive term independent of the type of institution that the student is attending; rather, the designation is based on the student’s type of degree program. While we include some students at fouryear institutions because of their stated degree objective; nearly 90 percent of all community colleges students fitting this definition attend two-year or less than two-year institutions, with more than threequarters attending public two-year institutions. Occupational students constitute a group within the community college student population whose selfreported major is in one of the following vocational fields of study: agricultural business and production, agricultural sciences, business, communication technologies, computer and information science, construction, engineering, engineering technologies, health professions, home economics, mechanics and repair, personal services, precision production, protective services, science technologies, or transportation. Academic students also constitute a group of community colleges students; their selfreported major is in an academic field of study (humanities, mathematics, science, or social science). Baccalaureate students are those taking for-credit courses toward a bachelor’s degree at a four-year institution. The purpose of this profile of occupational students is to identify and highlight the distinctive enrollment and demographic characteristics of these students and to contrast them with other – and more widely studied – students in postsecondary education. We conclude the Brief with policy recommendations that could promote beneficial educational outcomes for postsecondary occupational students.