U.S. community colleges—which disproportionately serve students from low-income backgrounds—provide higher education to millions of students each year. They are accessible, and much less expensive than four-year colleges or private two-year colleges. At the same time, community colleges struggle with low graduation rates. Among first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students entering public two-year schools, only 29 percent graduate within three years.
In response to these challenges, three Ohio community colleges began implementing programs in 2015 based on the City University of New York’s successful Accelerated Study in Associate Programs.
The program experienced similar successes as CUNY, with significant impacts on graduation rates and transfer to four-year institutions after three years.
This brief from MDRC extends the follow-up period for the Ohio programs to six years and provides earnings and employment impacts for the first time. After six years, the program continued to have an impact on graduation: 44 percent of students in the program group earned a degree, compared with 29 percent in the control group. Notably, the report says these improvements in academic achievement led to increased earnings, on average, for the students in the program group. In Year Six, students earned an additional $1,948 over the control group average of $17,626, an increase of 11 percent, the report says.