What Matters for Improving the Success Rates of Different Cohorts of Community College Students?

Objective: Six-year cohort completion rates calculated for California community college students—who declared their goal to obtain a certificate, associate degree, or become university transfer ready—averaged just below 50% for cohorts entering the fall semesters between 2007 and 2011. The range of this completion rate varied from 23% to 67%. This study’s objective is to investigate how institutional choices at a community college influence the completion rates of different types of student cohorts after controlling for factors outside of the college’s control. Method: We use panel-data regression analysis to understand what contributes to these variations in a community college’s cohort completion rate. Results: Our results indicate that colleges prioritizing larger class sizes and fewer credit sections exhibit higher student cohort completion rates. We also find that an academic assistance program directed to low-income students boosts cohort completion rates for eligible students and generates positive spillover effects for their ineligible peers. Likely to create much discussion is our finding that an increase in faculty percentage with full-time status benefits academically unprepared and economically disadvantaged cohorts but not prepared and advantaged ones. Contribution: The primary contribution of this analysis is that college-specific policies on delivering education, over which college administrators have some control, can result in disparate impacts on different types of student cohort completion rates.