AAACE 2021 Annual Conference

dual enrollment, community colleges, completion

Educational attainment is a key student success measurement. Using the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS 2002:2012) this study examines the effect of attendance in dual enrollment programs (DE) on community college student completion. The impact of DE on retention will be compared to social capital and cultural capital factors. 

Institutions have adopted a myriad of strategies aimed to stem the problem of student attrition in associate degree programs. Initiatives such as learning communities, success coaching, and first year experience classes are all designed to help students persist in college, yet the persistence rates for community colleges remain subpar. Looking at issues of retention through the lens of engagement, researchers find strong evidence of the importance of student connectedness and socialization with peers, faculty and staff at an institution. One way to engage students in the community college setting is to gradually introduce them to the college environment and academics via dual enrolment or early college programs.
Despite their popularity, there is relatively little evidence on the impact of dual enrollment programs on college completion (Cowan and Goldhaber, 2015). The studies that have been done primary focus on either individual institution's, state level investigations or examine if dual enrollment programs increase college enrollment decisions. Our study uses the Educational Longitudinal Study (NCSE, 2013) data, a national representative sample of tenth graders that started in 2002 and follows up through 2012. We used 4,367 community college students to determine if dual enrollment increased the odds of completing a degree or certificate.