National data following a 2015 cohort of community college students through 2021 suggests that only 16% ultimately earn a bachelor’s degree.

At first glance, the percentage, part of data gathered by the Aspen Institute, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC) and the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Columbia University, might seem low.

Bachelor’s completion rates among transfer students from local schools, however, which include Brunswick Community College and Cape Fear Community College, indicate that the national averages don’t paint a complete picture.

Not all students who go to community colleges plan or need to seek additional education. Transfer-intent community college students who enroll at four-year universities graduate at much higher rates than the overall community college population, though it often takes them six years of combined higher education to do so, according to data from the University of North Carolina System dashboard.

The gap between overall community college population and transfer-intent student population graduation rates from four-year universities stems from the fact that many community college students pursue alternative credentials versus bachelor’s degrees, though there are many reasons a student might opt out of pursuing a four-year degree.
 
“Here at Brunswick, we do a survey where we ask students, ‘What are your next steps? What are your plans?’” said David Townsend, vice president of academic affairs and chief academic officer at BCC. “There’s a little bit of mismatch from what their intentions are upon graduation and then what they actually do. As you know, life happens.”

According to NSCRC data published by CCRC, community college students in North Carolina have a 15% bachelor’s completion rate, but of the students who transfer to public four-year universities, 59% graduate with a bachelor’s degree in four years.

At a local level, data from the UNC System shows that 67% of full-time CFCC students who started in fall 2017 graduated from a North Carolina university. That success rate is 75% for full-time BCC students who started in fall 2017 and graduated from a four-year North Carolina college, although BCC’s cohort is smaller at 69 full-time students compared to CFCC’s 491.

Establishing clear transfer pathways is essential to ensuring transfer students’ success, according to John Fink, senior research associate and program lead at CCRC. In addition to statewide transfer agreements, like North Carolina’s Comprehensive Articulation Agreement, community colleges like BCC and CFCC often establish guaranteed admissions programs and transfer pathways to foster seamless admission and enrollment for transfer students.

For example, CFCC recently announced a partnership with Johnson & Wales University for culinary students with an eligible associate’s degree and a minimum GPA of 2.7. If students meet both Johnson & Wales and the partnership agreement standards, they can be directly admitted to the university.

“We see ourselves as a bridge to whatever comes next for our students, so they can start here, and they can literally go anywhere,” said Lucinda McNamara, dean of university transfer and partnerships at CFCC.

CFCC and BCC have 20 and 19 transfer partnership agreements, respectively, and both colleges report that UNCW is the four-year college their students are most likely to transfer to.

In fact, according to Stefanie Norris, director of strategic enrollment initiatives and transfer pathways at UNCW, one in three students at UNCW is a transfer student from other schools in general.

“I see more students from Brunswick and Cape Fear every year applying to UNCW, being admitted and enrolling,” Norris said.

According to UNC System data, 69% of full-time transfer students who started at UNCW in fall 2017 graduated.

However, even with various transfer pathways in place, data indicates that it typically takes community college students longer to complete a bachelor’s degree within two years of transferring to a university. According to data from NSCRC and the UNC System, it often takes community college transfer students six years to complete an associate and a bachelor’s degree.

Of CFCC’s fall 2017 cohort of transfer students, only 25% of full-time students graduated within two years with a bachelor’s degree from a North Carolina university, and just 21% of BCC transfer students graduated within two years.

According to Norris, the type of degree a student earns from a community college and whether a student is continuously enrolled or enrolled full time are factors that determine whether a student will graduate within four years, or at all.

“Not every associate’s degree is designed to transfer,” Norris said.

Some degrees, or workforce degrees, such as marine technology or welding, might require specific community college pathways to seamlessly transfer credits to a four-year institution, she said.

Continuous enrollment also plays a role in determining whether a high school student will go on to earn a degree. According to Fink, if a high school student doesn’t go to a university immediately after graduation, it’s much less likely that they’ll go at all.

That said, dual enrollment programs allow high schoolers the chance to obtain an associate’s degree before graduation, and the program has grown increasingly popular, according to both national and local data.

Trends from North Carolina community colleges suggest that continuous, holistic support, from beginning to end on the transfer path, is essential for students seeking a bachelor’s degree to feel supported and to succeed, Fink said.

“As educators,” Fink said, “we really need to be focused, how we make sure that any of these offerings open up possibilities for students and not close them down.”