Going the Distance: The Effect of Simultaneous Enrollment on Community College Students' Degree Attainment

• In Event: Strategies to Enhance the Community College Experience

Abstract

Students who start their post-secondary journey at community colleges have historically struggled in achieving their academic goals (e.g., transfer and/or degree completion). One of the potential behaviors that institutions allow, or in some cases even promote, is that of enrolling in multiple institutions at the same time, or what we call simultaneous enrollment. Using nationally representative data as provided by the Beginning Postsecondary Study (12:17) and measures of access to institutions, the authors attempt to more accurately identify the causal relationship between simultaneous enrollment and academic outcomes using instrumental variable estimation. While the work is still ongoing, the current findings showcased here suggest that simultaneous enrollment has a positive relationship with academic achievement amongst community college students.

Authors

• Joshua Dorman, University of California - Irvine

• Rachel Baker, University of California - Irvine

• Michael Hill, University of California - Irvine

• Maritza Morales-Gracia, University of California - Irvine