The Role of the Community College in Baccalaureate Attainment at a Private Liberal Arts College.

Degree audits on 1,188 graduates of a private liberal arts college revealed that 49% had earned credit hours toward completing the baccalaureate at a community college. After defining the different roles that community colleges play in baccalaureate attainment (traditional, occasional needs, returning, traditional/continuing needs, other), the author presents data on the 577 graduates in this study who used a community college by roles defined and number of credit hours completed. The findings support the contention that aggregate data mask institutional variations on community college contributions to baccalaureate education.

The role of the community college in baccalaureate education is traditionally associated with the first two years of college. State policies and articulation agreements have focused on connecting a prescribed sequence of lower-division courses at the community college with upper-division courses at four-year institutions (Kintzer & Wattenbarger, 1985). The underlying assumption of this focus is that students will follow a "two-plus-two" path, completing an associate's degree at the community college and then the bachelor's degree ar a four-year institution (Palmer, Lugwig, & Stapleton, 1994).

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the community college transfer mission was questioned as several studies indicated that the traditional assumption did not represent actual student behavior. The Washington State Board for Community College Education (1989) reported that whereas 33% of the 1988 baccalaureate graduates had transferred credit from a community college, just 60% of these students completed an associate's degree. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972, Adelman (1992) found that 17% of those who earned a bachelor's degree completed at least 11 credits at a community college. Slightly more than half of these individuals (51%), however, completed an associate's degree. Analysis of a sample of baccalaureate graduates from six Virginia public higher education institutions (Palmer & Pugh, 1993) revealed that 38% had transferred community college credit to the institution that awarded the baccalaureate degree; 15% of those who had earned community college credit followed the curricular path leading to the associate's degree.

Subsequent research on the transfer mission has revealed four primary ways that the community college contributes to baccalaureate education. One of these remains the two-plus-two path or aspects related to this traditional role. Data from a study of 30 public colleges and universities in 13 states (Palmer, Ludwig, & Stapleton, 1994) revealed that 37% of the sample completed the associate's degree. Moreover, 75% of the students who attended the community college stayed long enough to earn at least 48 semester hours (the equivalent of two years of full-time study). The authors described these students as traditional in terms of years of full-time study at the community college. After examining seven years of enrollment patterns at two public universities and one private college in California, Baratta (1992) characterized 58% of the transfers as traditional. These students did not follow the two-plus-two path, but were traditional in the sense that they enrolled first at the community college and then transferred to a four-year institution to complete the baccalaureate degree.

A second contribution to baccalaureate education involves concurrent enrollment in both a community college and four-year institution. A one-year review of enrollment data revealed that 33% of the bachelor's degree graduates of a public research university had completed credits at a nearby community college (de los Santos & Wright, 1990). Rather than following a traditional linear path, the authors described "swirling" patterns of attendance that included concurrent enrollment at both institutions. In the previously mentioned study by Baratta (1992), concurrent enrollment constituted the second largest grouping (15%) of community college transfer students.

Enrolling for a summer session is the third use of the community college by students pursuing the baccalaureate. Bers (1990) correlated a dataset of all students who received a bachelor's degree from an Illinois public university with the enrollment records of an Illinois community college. Among the graduates who had attended the community college, 43% attended only one semester. For a significant portion (64%) of the graduates, this one semester was a summer term.

Reverse and lateral transfer is the final way the community college facilitates the completion of the bachelor's degree. A recent examination of transfer in an urban area (Kinnick, et al., 1997) indicated that students moved back and forth between three local community colleges and a state university. This study, however, did not provide data concerning baccalaureate completion. Bogart and Price (1993) found lateral transfer as a means for students to meet their own specific educational needs from multiple community colleges prior to transferring to the university to complete the baccalaureate. Kearney, Townsend, and Kearney (1995) coined the term multiple transfer to represent bachelor's degree graduates who attended three or more institutions, pointing to their conscious selection of courses and institutional type.

Realizing the problems associated with a singular definition, the American Association of Community Colleges (1992) suggested multiple indicators of effectiveness regarding transfer. The American Council on Education's policy statement on the transfer function (Palmer & Eaton, 1991) called for benchmarks of effectiveness referenced to individual four-year colleges and the community colleges with which they work. Palmer, Ludwig, and Stapleton (1994) also recommended analysis of transfer within local contexts. The authors stressed that aggregate data masked institutional variations of the role of the community college in baccalaureate education.

The above mentioned research has examined community college transfers to public universities or state colleges. Only one study (Washington State Board for Community College Education, 1989) provided information concerning the role of the community college in baccalaureate attainment at private institutions, reporting that 22% of the graduates had completed at least some credit at a community college. The purpose of the study described in this report was to investigate the role played by the community college in baccalaureate attainment at a private liberal arts college.

The Role of the Community College in Baccalaureate Attainment

To assess the contribution of the community college to baccalaureate attainment, three role definitions were developed from the literature. During the data analysis, it became apparent that a fourth role, not found in the literature, also described actual practice. After discussion with a number of colleagues, this fourth role was retroactively added.

In the traditional role, the community college serves as the entry point to higher education. The student earns at least 12 credit hours at the community college, then transfers to a four-year institution to complete the bachelor's degree. This role recognizes that a significant number of students begin higher education and complete a substantial number of credits at the community college (Baratta, 1992; Palmer, Ludwig, & Stapleton, 1994). Cohen (1992) established 12 credit hours, the minimal equivalent of full-time enrollment for one semester, as a basis for classifying a student as a community college transfer.

In the occasional needs role, the student begins postsecondary study at the four-year institution, using the community college for specific needs related to baccalaureate requirements. The student does not transfer to the community college from the four-year institution. Rather, this path involves concurrent enrollment at both the community college and four-year institution (Baratta, 1992; de los Santos & Wright, 1990) or attendance at the community college during summer terms (Bers, 1992).

In the returning transfer role, the student begins postsecondary study at the four-year institution and completes at least 12 credit hours, formally transfers to the community college and earns at least 12 credit hours, then returns to the four-year institution to complete the bachelor's degree. A number of studies have examined reverse transfer--transferring from a four-year institution to a community college (Hogan, 1986; Kajstura & Keim, 1992; University of Maryland, 1987). It has been noted that reverse transfers often do not return to the original postsecondary institution (Clagett, 1993). Multiple transfers, for example, often complete only the minimum number of credits required at the degree-granting institution (Kearney, Townsend, & Kearney, 1995). Therefore, the returning transfer is first a reverse transfer, and may be a multiple transfer, but completes the path by returning (transferring back) to the original four-year institution to complete the baccalaureate.

As mentioned above, the data indicated a fourth role that the community college played in baccalaureate attainment. A number of graduates met the traditional role criteria, yet these individuals continued to use the community college after transferring to the liberal arts college. In the traditional/continuing needs role, the student follows the traditional role path, but after transfer to the four-year institution, the community college continues to serve specific needs related to baccalaureate requirements.

To determine the extent that these roles represented actual student behavior, five categories of transfer hours were also developed from the literature. Colleges and universities participating in the Transfer Assembly Project have used 12 credit hours, the minimal equivalent of full-time enrollment for one semester, as a basis to define transfer (Cohen, 1992). Palmer and Pugh (1993) found that the median number of community college credits earned by baccalaureate graduates was 23. A subsequent study (Palmer, Ludwig, & Stapleton, 1994) found that 75% of the students completed at least 48 hours at the community college prior to transferring to a four-year institution. Several investigations have categorized transfer students by using 60 hours (the equivalent of junior status) rather than the associate's degree (Best & Gehring, 1993; Graham & Hughes, 1994; House, 1989). A common finding of these efforts is that a significant number of community college students complete 60 or more credit hours but do not earn the associate's degree.

Based upon this information, the following five categories of transfer hours emerged:

fewer than 12 credit hours: completion of less than one semester of full-time study

12-23 credit hours: completion of one semester, but less than one year of full-time study

24-47 credit hours: completion of one, but less than two years of full-time study

48-59 credit hours: completion of two years of full-time study, but less than the number of credit hours required for the associate's degree

60+ credit hours: completion of credit hours equivalent to the associate's degree

Methodology

The subjects included bachelor's degree recipients at a private liberal arts college in a mid-Atlantic state during a five-year time period (1993 through 1997). A population of 1,193 individuals were awarded the baccalaureate degree by this institution during the years included in this study. The college is located in a major metropolitan area, with campuses of two community colleges in close proximity.

The institution uses a degree audit to facilitate the advising process and to verify that all requirements for the baccalaureate have been completed. This instrument provides information concerning the number of hours transferred, when the transfer hours were completed (prior to or after matriculation), and the type of institution from which the credit was transferred (community college, four-year university). The audit also indicates whether transfer hours were taken through concurrent enrollment or if the student formally transferred to another institution and then returned. To protect the anonymity of the graduates, the copies of degree audits identified subjects only by year graduated. Of the 1,193 individuals in the population, 1,188 (99.6%) were included in the data analyses. In each case, subjects were excluded because information concerning the type of institution from which the credit was transferred was unclear.

Graduates were first classified by the role of the community college in baccalaureate attainment. Individuals that did not match any of the four roles were classified as other. The number of hours transferred from the community college for each respective graduate was then differentiated by role.

Limitations

The methodology has two limitations. First, the degree audit includes only information about institutions attended to complete the baccalaureate degree. It is possible that graduates attended additional institutions that are not represented in this record. Second, the degree audit includes only the community college credit hours that applied to baccalaureate requirements. The liberal arts college requires a grade of C or higher for all transfer courses, thus, the graduates may have completed additional community college credits but earned a passing grade below C. In addition, the liberal arts college will apply a maximum of 62 community college credit hours toward the baccalaureate. It is probable that among the graduates in the 60+ hour category, a number completed more than 62 hours, and these additional hours are not included in the data.

Results

Information concerning the number of graduates and their use of the community college are presented in Table 1. Community colleges played a vital role in baccalaureate attainment at this liberal arts college; 577 (49%) of the 1,188 graduates attended a community college in completing the bachelor's degree. Moreover, the percentage of graduates completing baccalaureate requirements at the community college has increased to over 50% during the last two years included in the study.

Table 1 Baccalaureate Graduates Who Had Used a Community College by Year

           Number       Number Using a     Percentage Using a
Year    of Graduates   Community College   Community College

1993         222               99                 46
1994         246              106                 43
1995         247              116                 47
1996         243              123                 51
1997         230              133                 58
Total      1,188              577                 49

Note. Year includes May, August and December graduates in the calendar year.

As shown in Table 2, the community college fulfilled the occasional needs role for almost three-fourths (72%) of the subjects in this study. Further analysis of the degree audits revealed that slightly more than two-thirds (68%) of these students attended the community college for only one summer session after either their sophomore or junior year. Nine individuals were classified as other because they did not meet the minimum definition of transfer. Six of these individuals completed less than 12 hours at the community college, then transferred to the liberal arts college. Two individuals completed less than 12 hours at the liberal arts college, then transferred to a community college.

Table 2 Graduates Using a Community College by Role and Credit Hours (n = 577)

                                     Credit Hour Categories

Role                           >12    12-23   24-27   48-59   60+

Traditional                       0      40      31      28    28
Occasional Needs                382      30       3       0     0
Returning                         0       5       4       0     0
Traditional/Continuing Needs      0       6      11       0     0
Other                             6       0       3       0     0

Role                           Total    %

Traditional                      127   22.0
Occasional Needs                 415   72.0
Returning                          9    1.5
Traditional/Continuing Needs      17    3.0
Other                              9    1.5

Community college credit hours by role are presented in Table 3. Although occasional needs best describes the role of the community college in terms of student numbers, the substantial portion of community college hours was completed through the traditional and traditional/continuing needs roles (69%). Graduates who began study at the community college completed a mean of 39 hours at the community college, 32% of the 124 credit hours required for the bachelor's degree. Graduates who began study at the liberal arts college completed a mean of 6 hours at the community college, less than 1% of the hours required for the baccalaureate.

Table 3

Number of Community College Credit Hours by Categories and Role

                       Credit Hour Categories

Role            >12    12-23   24-47   48-59    60+    Total   %

Traditional        0    637    1,194   1,456   1,725   5,012   61
Occasional
  Needs        1,797    459       84       0       0   2,340   28
Returning          0     90      122       0       0     212    3
Traditional/
  Continuing       0    132      495       0       0     627    8
  Needs
Other             30      0       27       0       0      57   >1
Total                                                  8,248

Discussion

This study supports the call for benchmarks of transfer effectiveness between individual four-year institutions and the community colleges with which they work (Palmer & Eaton, 1991). Previous research has measured effectiveness primarily by the number of community college transfer students who completed the bachelor's degree. Considering only the traditional transfer and transfer/continuing needs role, the faculty and administration might erroneously assume that one-fourth (25%) of the graduates had used the community college on the path toward baccalaureate attainment. Thus, attention would not be drawn to the fact that, in some fashion, the community college contributed to the baccalaureate education of virtually half of the graduates.

This finding supports the contention that aggregate data mask institutional variations on the community college contribution to baccalaureate education (Palmer, Ludwig, & Stapleton, 1994). Only one previous study considered private colleges and reported information for all private institutions in the state (Washington State Board for Community College Education, 1989). The use of the community college by baccalaureate graduates at the liberal arts college in this investigation is more than double that reported for private institutions in an entire state.

Moreover, the study also supports the call for multiple indicators regarding the effectiveness of the transfer mission of community colleges (American Association of Community Colleges, 1992). If two-plus-two is assumed as the transfer mission, then effectiveness could certainly be questioned as less than 1% of the graduates in this study followed this path. As defined, however, the traditional transfer path demonstrates effectiveness, making up a significant portion of total community college hours and, on average, representing approximately one-third of the requirements for the bachelor's degree. Effectiveness is also demonstrated through the occasional needs role, which served almost three-fourths of the graduates on their path to the baccalaureate. Isolating any of these three paths as a singular measure would not present an accurate representation of the transfer function in practice.

These extremes present a composite picture of the extensive variation in the community college contribution to baccalaureate education. Results of the study support previous findings regarding the demise of the importance of the associate's degree in baccalaureate attainment (Adelman, 1992; Palmer & Pugh, 1993; Washington State Board for Community College Education, 1989). The results also support previous research indicating that there are multiple ways that the community college contributes to completing the bachelor's degree (Bers, 1990; Bogart & Price, 1993; de los Santos & Wright, 1990; Palmer, Ludwig, & Stapletion, 1994). The percentage of baccalaureale graduates who used a community college provides strong evidence that the community college plays an important role in baccalaureate attainment at the liberal arts college involved in this study.

The methodology of this study provided four definitions of the role of the community college in baccalaureate education. Three of these definitions were developed from the available literature, and one emerged during data analysis. Therefore, research to verify, refute, and add to these definitions is suggested.

As this study is an institutional one that focused on a particular liberal arts college, a number of areas for future research emerge. Additional research incorporating and perhaps comparing differing types of four-year institutions would enhance our knowledge of the role played by the community college in bachelor's degree completion. Similar studies could be conducted using a four-year institution without community colleges in close proximity. This would examine the influence of proximity on the community college role. Finally, repeating the methodology of this study with differentiated samples (for example traditional versus nontraditional aged students or full-time versus part-time enrollment) would provide insight into the relationship between demographic characteristics and use of the community college in baccalaureate attainment.

An implication of the findings is the importance of developing relationships between community colleges and private institutions. McCormick & Carroll (1997) contend that attending multiple institutions while pursuing the baccalaureate is a phenomenon of contemporary higher education. Most certainly this phenomenon dictates that community colleges and private four-year institutions can no longer ignore each other. A number of studies have recommended cooperation between faculty members as a key means of establishing linkages between two- and four-year institutions (Eaton, 1992; Richardson, 1993; To-Dutka & Weinman, 1991). Examples in the literature describe collaborative efforts between the faculties of community colleges and public four-year institutions (Funk, Dahlen, & Bickley, 1987; Harden, 1991), and one example (Illinois State Board of Higher Education, 1996) outlines a program also involving private college and university faculty.

This investigation adds to the existing body of research, but it is limited in scope and should not be used for generalized conclusions. Policies regarding transfer vary among four-year institutions. Some states (California for example) require a minimum number of community college hours to transfer to a four-year institution. In addition, differences exist among the student populations at community colleges and four-year institutions across the nation. The findings and limitations of this study emphasize the need for additional research focused on the role of the community college in baccalaureate attainment.

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Brent D. Cejda is an assistant professor in the College of Education at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. ([e-mail])