Community college penalty in employment outcomes: comparing post-baccalaureate salaries between community college transfers and four-year direct attendees

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2022

Abstract

This study investigates if baccalaureate holders who initially attended a community college prior to transferring to a four-year college or university earn lower wages post-graduation than their counterparts who exclusively attended the four-year. In other words, we explore the existence of a penalty for community college attendance on annual salaries. Using a nationally representative sample from the Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) data set, we use propensity score matching to match community college transfers with those who started at a four-year college/university. Matching was based on pre-college characteristics. Propensity scores were calculated for students' probability of attending a community college. After matching, nonparametric tests indicated that community college transfers earned significantly more than their four-year attendee counterparts. This finding was statistically significant after both one- and four-year after graduation. In a subsequent step, we estimated the impact of community college transfer on annual salaries through regression analyses. With demographic, social background, academic, and workforce variables controlled, results of the regression analyses indicated no community college penalty in postbaccalaureate salaries. We discuss the implications of policy and future research.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

SN Social Sciences

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS