Colby Community College Student Success at the Baccalaureate Level

Abstract

There is limited research that focuses on differentiating student success rates atthe baccalaureate level (persistence and graduation status) among community collegetransfer students, and associate degree completing students. Data on student successprovided to community colleges for students who transfer to a university do not designateor classify students by associate degree completers and individuals who transferred priorto obtaining an associate degree. The purpose of this study was to investigate whetherdifferences existed in student success (persistence and graduation status) between ColbyCommunity College transfer students who completed an associate degree and ColbyCommunity College transfer students who did not complete an associate degree. For thisstudy, student success was measured in two ways, persistence (persisted, did not persist)and graduation status (graduated, currently enrolled, did not graduate), among the cohortof Colby Community College transfer students who completed an associate degree andColby Community College transfer students who did not complete an associate degree.The effect of student sex, race, and state of origin of Colby Community Collegetransfer and associate degree completing students was also explored. Sex was defined asthe classification of a student as male or female. Race was defined as minority (any raceother than Caucasian) and non-minority (Caucasian) status. The state of origin wasidentified as Kansas or other state. Findings from the current study appeared to illustratethe correlation among the selected sub-groups of students earning an associate degree andexperiencing student success at the baccalaureate level, even if only marginallysignificant.