The Impact of Reverse Transfer Associate Degrees on Education and Labor Market Outcomes

Reverse transfer associate degrees are credentials retroactively awarded to current bachelor's degree seekers, combining four-year credits with credits previously earned at a community college. Using administrative data from Tennessee, we use a difference-in-difference design to compare students before and after receipt of a reverse transfer degree to similar students over time. We find reverse transfer degrees have little impact on students' academic outcomes (GPA, credits, and bachelor's degree attainment) and labor market outcomes (employment and earnings). Our findings contrast with existing descriptive work reporting large benefits of such degrees, due to our methodological improvements and more robust data. The null effect on earnings suggests that returns to an associate degree are driven by human capital gains rather than signaling in the reverse transfer student population.