UCLA

In the past two decades, there has been a rise in community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs, and they fundamentally shift the role and function of community colleges. My multi-method project utilizes quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore the implications of CCB adoption on educational access, success, and equity. Leveraging an administrative, longitudinal dataset of CCB-matriculated students from 2017-18 through 2023-24 in Washington state (n = 13,074), I conduct descriptive and inferential analysis to examine the extent of CCB completion differentials in total annual earnings, hourly wage rates, and employment rates in three, four, and five years after initial CCB matriculation. I generate estimates on the CCB completion differentials in a pooled analysis, as well as a stratified analysis by fields of study (CIP2), gender, race/ethnicity, and age group. I leverage a suite of analytic tools, from various forms of regression, stabilized inverse probability weighting, and the omitted variable bias framework for sensitivity analysis to ensure that the estimates generated are not dependent on a singular analytic approach. For my qualitative inquiry, I utilize an abductive approach to explore how CCB programs, as trajectory-responsive policy projects, interplay with institutional and structural dimensions (i.e., administrative, economic, programmatic, social, spatial, and temporal conditions) and students’ social contexts, positions, and trajectories to enable or constrain the stratified feasibility landscape of college participation. I conduct semi-structured one-on-one interviews with current and graduated students from five CCB programs in California (n = 30) that include Environmental CCB programs in small rural towns and Industrial and Health CCB programs in large metropolitan areas. Together, the findings generate insights in the ways that CCB programs contribute to the alleviation or reproduction of economic/social stratification, (im)mobility, and (in)equality/(in)equity. These findings have implications on policy, practice, and research as they relate to community colleges, CCB programs, and higher education broadly.