Student Success Courses and Educational Outcomes at Virginia Community Colleges

Using data from the Virginia Community College System and building upon prior Florida-based research, this working paper examines whether student success course enrollment has positive associations with shorter term student outcomes, including earning any college credits within the first year and persisting into the second year. The study finds that students who enrolled in a student success course in the first semester were more likely to earn college-level credits within the first year and were more likely to persist to the second year. The study also finds that students who were referred to developmental education were more likely to earn college-level credits within the first year if they enrolled in a student success course in their first term. A journal article based on this paper, titled “Student Success Courses in the Community College: Early Enrollment and Educational Outcomes,” was published in the Community College Review, vol. 41, no. 1.