This study examines the college choice for community college students who are seeking to transfer to a baccalaureate granting institution. I identify community college students who are eligible to transfer to a four-year college and I investigate where they want to pursue a bachelor’s degree. Moreover, I examine students’ college choices about the type of four-year college they are interested in transferring to. I use theories from economics and sociology to examine how college choice occurs. Specifically, I model the college choice process through the theories of Rational Choice, Bounded Rationality and Social Network Analysis. Previous studies examining college choice for community college transfer students have narrowly focused on the share of community college students at selective four-year colleges; these studies find that community college transfer students rarely attend selective four-year colleges and most are public institutions. This study examines factors that influence where community college elect to transfer to. In doing so, this study contributes to our understanding of the stratification in the transfer pathway and destination for community students.
This study, which is situated in California, is ideal to understand college choice for community transfer students due to the robust articulation agreement between the state’s two baccalaureate granting systems and the community college system. Moreover, California is home to the largest community college system in the country and serves over 2 million students. Using mixed methods including conditional logit regression analysis, Social Network Analysis, and qualitative interviews, I examine: (a) where California community college students transfer to and (b) the institutional forces that shape their college choices. My study uses secondary data from the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office and original data collected from 114 community college students.
The results reveal disparate transfer patterns for California community college students and students reveal distinct factors that motivate their college transfer choice. An analysis of where students transfer to show that stratification exist with high performing African American and Latinx students less likely to attend a selective institution than their Asian American and White peers. Social Network Analysis examining the applications of high performing community college students reveal that students are interested in attending the more selective public institutions in the state. Qualitative interviews reveal that students are interested in selective universities located in the state because they are trying to be affiliated with prestigious organizations. At the same time, some students said they were interested in attending private in-state colleges and out-of-state institutions but were unable to access information about how to proceed. Findings suggest that information asymmetry influenced where students elected to transfer to.
This research study examined earning disparities between five cohorts of Black and White bachelor’s degree recipients at the University of California two (N = 33,428), four (N = 30,096), six (N = 29,829), and ten (N = 29,330) years post-graduation. Results show that without adjustments, there is a sizeable and compounding Black-White wage gap. With pre-college adjustments and both pre-college adjustments and post-matriculation adjustments, Black-White wage gaps for the UC graduates were statistically insignificant with pre-college adjustments diminishing the race effect showing that graduates with similar pre-college characteristics fared the same in the labor market regarding earnings. No statistically significant differences were observed between the earnings of Black and White first-generation students. Differences in earnings between Black and White graduates who earned subsequent degrees were small and not statistically significant with Black and White graduates with a subsequent degree earning less than their peers without one signaling that going to graduate school equals time out of the labor market which works to the advantage of those who decide not to pursue a subsequent degree. From a gender perspective, Black males were found to earn less than White males and White females earned more than Black females. This study focused on the general pay gap, so more research is needed to explore potential Black-White occupational wage gaps. Some implications for policy and practice include providing Black students with access to high-paying fields of study, closing Black-White academic achievement gaps starting the K-12 level, and providing access to internships and study abroad programs in an equitable way.Keywords: wage disparity, earnings, racial discrimination, labor market
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