In a new book to be published in August, we and other CCRC colleagues argue that if community colleges are to build back enrollment after more than a decade of declines and address concerns about the value of a college education, they need to ensure that their programs are worth completing in that they prepare students to secure good jobs or transfer successfully.
A new CCRC report examines data on what degrees and certificates community colleges nationally are awarding and which of those programs are more likely to enable students to secure good jobs directly or transfer efficiently to a bachelor’s degree program in students’ major fields of interest. It also explores whether certain demographic groups are underrepresented among graduates of programs that have strong post-completion value for employment and transfer or are overrepresented among lower value program graduates. An accompanying data dashboard makes it possible to see data on these questions at the national, state, and individual institution levels. The new report expands on a chapter in the book on how community college innovators are building career ladders and improving transfer pathways to increase the post-completion value of their programs.
Read more of our blog series highlighting the ideas in CCRC’s new book More Essential Than Ever: Community College Pathways to Educational and CareerSuccess.
The report uses IPEDS data to classify the 1.425 million degrees and certificates that community colleges awarded in credit-bearing programs during academic year 2022-23. We classify community college awards by level—bachelor’s, associate, or long or short certificate—and by intent: workforce, transfer, or general education.
The report also uses College Scorecard data on earnings by award and evidence from research on the outcomes of community college workforce and transfer credential completers to provide a rough assessment of which credentials are more likely to enable students to secure a living-wage job or transfer efficiently in a major and which are not. In addition, the report examines the gender and racial/ethnic characteristics of program awardees to assess whether graduates of programs with potentially higher post-completion value are representative of graduates overall.
Workforce Credentials
Over half (56%) of community college credit-program awards in 2022-23 are workforce or career-technical credentials designed to prepare students to secure jobs or develop job skills. This includes 35% of associate degrees, virtually all bachelor’s degrees, 59% of long certificates (at least 30 semester credits), and 93% of short certificates (fewer than 30 semester credits). The figures below show the number of these workforce credentials awarded by level and the share of these awards associated with median annual earnings two years after graduation (in 2019 dollars) that are well above a living wage (greater than $40,000), near a living wage (in the $30,000–$40,000 range), or well below a living wage (less than $30,000).
Associate degrees. Over three-quarters of the more than 275,000 workforce associate degrees awarded by community colleges are associated with median earnings near or well above a living wage two years after completion. Still, over 63,000 (23%) are associated with median earnings well below a living wage. The largest numbers of these are in the fields of business, communications and design, early childhood education, health administrative services, and culinary services. Outside of nursing and allied healthcare, women and students of color are underrepresented among workforce associate degree graduates in well-paying, high-demand fields, including engineering technology and manufacturing and construction technology and trades.
Bachelor’s degrees. Community college bachelor’s degrees have similarly high levels of associated earnings. Over three-quarters of community college bachelor’s degrees—virtually all of them in career-technical fields—are associated with median earnings well above a living wage two years after completion. While such programs are growing, the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded by community colleges is still small: less than 16,000 compared to more than 1.3 million awarded by public universities in 2022-23. Women and students of color are underrepresented among bachelor’s graduates in some higher earning fields, such as computer and information technology, and overrepresented in lower earning fields such as human services.
Certificates. Long workforce certificates also tend to lead to a living wage, while there is mixed evidence on short certificates. Three-quarters of the more than 130,000 community college workforce long certificates are associated with median earnings near a living wage two years after completion. Long certificates in fields such as nursing and allied health, public safety and corrections, computer and information technology, and industrial and construction technology and trades can provide stepping stones to jobs that pay near or above a living wage. Our analysis found that most (78%) certificates from short-term programs are also associated with median earnings near or well above a living wage; other research suggests that short workforce programs are generally not sufficient to enable graduates to secure living-wage jobs. Many short—and some long—certificates associated with higher earnings are likely earned by workers who already have well-paying jobs and are seeking to increase their skills.
Overall, community colleges are producing far too few graduates with workforce associate degrees to meet the projected demand for middle-skill workers to fill well-paying technician jobs in computer and information technology, engineering and science technology, and industrial and construction technology and trades. The number of community college bachelor’s degrees in career-technical fields is also not keeping up with demand in many parts of the country and in many fields. Though community college workforce short and long certificate programs are often designed to be stackable (meaning they give credit toward degrees while also enabling students to advance to better jobs in the field), in reality, relatively few students stack certificates. Thus, there is a need and an opportunity for community colleges to greatly expand and diversify the number of graduates of workforce degree and certificate programs that enable students to enter well-paying, high-demand fields and advance toward earning higher level awards while they are working.
Transfer Credentials
About two thirds (over 500,000) of the associate degrees awarded by community colleges in 2022-23 are designed to enable students to transfer to a bachelor’s degree program. Nearly 60% of the more than 500,000 community college transfer associate of arts degrees are in liberal or general studies, which research suggests are poorly aligned with specific bachelor’s degree majors and thus may lead students who transfer to take more credits than needed or may shut them out of degrees in fields with higher salaries, such as STEM, business, and healthcare. Only 10% of transfer associate degrees are in STEM fields, compared to 23% of bachelor’s degrees awarded by public four-year institutions. Most associate transfer degrees are associated with earnings well below a living wage. For example, the median wage two years after completion for an associate of arts in liberal or general studies is around $24,000 (in 2019 dollars), which is equivalent to about $12 per hour for full-time work. Only 24% of transfer associate degrees—in engineering, computer and information sciences, business, and agriculture and natural resources—are associated with median earnings near a living wage two years after completion. These data supportother research suggesting that transfer associate degrees mainly have economic value to the extent that they enable students to successfully transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree.
In another new blog post, we introduce and explain a data dashboard that colleges and states can use to examine the post-completion value of the awards they are conferring, disaggregated by program and the demographic characteristics of program completers. In our forthcoming book, we describe how colleges are working with employers and universities to review and revamp their programs (and create new ones) to enable students to secure good jobs or transfer seamlessly. We also outline concrete actions colleges can take to ensure their programs have strong post-completion value for employment and further education.
Funding for this research was provided by Ascendium Education Group.
