News
June 11, 2003
Contact: Lorna Sutton, Director of Communications, SBCTC, 360-704-4310
Study shows more than 40 percent of bachelor’s degrees go to students who begin at two-year colleges
OLYMPIA – More than 40 percent of bachelor’s degrees awarded by Washington’s public four-year institutions go to students who begin their education at the state’s community or technical colleges, according to a study being presented to the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) Thursday.
The study of 2000-01 graduates shows that two-year colleges are playing an increasing role in the preparation of bachelor’s degree graduates. When the last study was conducted in 1988, 32 percent of bachelor’s degree graduates reported taking credits at two-year colleges; by 2001, 41 percent had earned a significant number of credits at two-year colleges.
Representatives of two-year and four-year institutions and other higher education organizations conducted the study jointly. Loretta Seppanen, assistant director of education services at the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), will present the results at the HECB meeting.
Researchers looked at 16,823 students who earned bachelor’s degrees in 2000-01 at the state’s public four-year institutions.
The study confirmed that students are more mobile than they used to be. The traditional image of a student enrolling at an institution and completing a bachelor’s degree there no longer holds true for the majority, Seppanen said. Only 45 percent were in this category. The remaining 14 percent had transferred from other institutions, meaning they earned a significant number of credits at another university in Washington or at a two-year or four-year institution outside the state.
Besides the increase in students earning a significant number of credits at two-year colleges, the study showed:
- Community and technical college transfer students do well after they transfer. Senior-year grade point averages for transfer students were essentially the same as those of students who started college at the four-year institutions.
- Community and technical colleges give a broad range of students the opportunity to complete bachelor’s degrees. Nearly a third of two-year college transfer students were 30 or older at the time of graduation from the universities, while only 6 percent of those who started at four-year institutions were in that age group. Transfer students were also more likely to be African American, Latino/Hispanic or Native American than other graduates.
- Transfer students were well represented in all major fields. The largest number of transfers completed degrees in business, education, social science, science and math, and engineering – the five largest degree fields at Washington’s public institutions.
One concern raised by the study was that community and technical college transfer students completed slightly more credits on their way to a bachelor’s degree than students who started at the four-year institutions.
Seppanen noted that two-year and four-year higher education representatives have already tackled this issue by developing new transfer degrees specifically for students planning to major in science and engineering at universities. This degree, implemented a couple of years ago, helps ensure two-year college students take the right science courses before they transfer.
A number of other efforts are underway to identify the specific courses for two-year college transfer students to take other high-demand majors, including teacher education and business, to improve efficiency.
The study also projected that the number of students seeking bachelor’s degrees through transfer from community and technical colleges is expected to grow significantly – about 5 percent per year – in the near future, Seppanen said.
Enrollment at both two-year and four-year institutions across the state already exceeds the level of funding provided by the Legislature and demand is expected to continue to grow with the increase in high school graduates and the percentage of high school graduates who want to pursue higher education.
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