The Path to a Bachelor’s Degree: The Effect of Starting at a Community College

Abstract

Community colleges are increasingly important in the postsecondary landscape as close to twenty states have enacted free community college plans to help alleviate rising college costs. I analyze the effect of community college enrollment on bachelor’s degree attainment among United States students, utilizing propensity score matching to address bias. Relative to students who started at open access four-year colleges, those who started at community colleges were 10% less likely to earn a bachelor’s degree. Further, the community college penalty disproportionately impacts upper middle-income students, Hispanics, and students with weaker academic backgrounds, thus widening the attainment gap among some demographics.