Latest Release: Who Transitions From Noncredit Education to Credit Education?

EVIDENCE FROM IOWA AND CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES

In our team’s latest research study, supported by the Lumina Foundation, we used administrative data on millions of noncredit and credit students in Iowa and California community colleges to examine the demographic characteristics of those who first enroll in noncredit or credit education as well as those who transition from noncredit to credit education and those who do not.

We investigated the following questions:

• What share of community college entrants begin exclusively in noncredit coursework (noncredit entrants), as opposed to beginning exclusively in credit coursework (credit entrants) or beginning in a combination of noncredit and credit coursework (simultaneous entrants)?

• How are noncredit entrants similar to or different from credit entrants in terms of demographic characteristics (age, gender, and race/ethnicity)?

• What share of noncredit entrants later transition to credit coursework (noncredit-to-credit transitioners)?

• What are the distinguishing demographic characteristics of noncredit-to-credit transitioners as compared with students who begin in noncredit and do not transition to credit (noncredit stayers)?

Interested in our findings? Access the full brief here.

We would like to thank the Lumina Foundation, as well as our state partners at the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges and the Iowa Department of Education.