Four-year degrees rare among community college graduates

Following a report showing a low percentage of community college students continuing to four-year institutions, California researchers say there is a risk of decline in the average state workforce's education level.

A study released this month by Sacramento State University researchers Nancy Shulock and Catherine Moore reported only 25 percent of community college students continue their education to pursue further degrees.

The report, titled "Rules of the Game," showed only 25 percent of the 60 percent of community college students seeking a degree completed their studies within six years. The completion rate was lower for minority students.

The study offered several suggestions to increase the figures, including providing four-year colleges and universities with financial incentives for transfer students.

The Boston University Metropolitan College offers one such scholarship to up to 30 transfer students from local community colleges.

"This scholarship is geared for working adults with an associate's degree who earned high grades in community college and are interested in achieving a four-year degree," said MET associate dean Judy Marley.

Marley said students at MET have not shared the same low completion rates reported in the study, crediting a high retention and success rate to BU's transfer student support system.

"We provide the community college students with advising to help them succeed," she said.

Bunker Hill Community College Student Affairs dean Jan Bonanno disputed some of the study's underlying assumptions. Bananno said she worries the public holds a skewed view of community college students, though she said they are as valuable to the workforce as graduates of four-year institutions.

"People don't understand that attending a community college is a choice," she said.

"People think community college is for people who can't get into a four-year college," Bonanno continued. "What they don't know is that we have an honors program and many of the same advantages that are offered at four-year schools."

Staff reporter Lizzy Snell contributed reporting to this article.

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