Alternative paths to college completion: Effect of attending a 2-year school on the probability of completing a 4-year degree

Recent research indicates that college students who transfer from community colleges are significantly less likely to complete a 4-year college degree than students who begin at 4-year institutions. This paper estimates models of college completion for both types of students. Based on these results, an Oaxaca decomposition indicates that students who attend 2-year colleges are at a disadvantage due primarily to lower individual quality rather than the lower quality of 2-year colleges. This result has implications for public policies that seek to increase the role of 2-year colleges as a means to increase the number of students completing 4-year degrees. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.