The effect of community college enrollment on bachelor's degree completion

Rouse [Rouse, C. E. (1995). Democratization or diversion-the effect Of community-colleges on educational-attainment. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics. 13(2), 217-224] finds that enrollment in a community college may divert students from attaining a bachelor's degree. However, this result may be due to selection bias, as the Population of community college students should be quite different from those who attend 4-year institutions in terms of both observable and unobservable characteristics. This study uses propensity score matching to non-parametrically balance a data set from the 1996 Beginning Postsecondary Students survey in order to overcome issues associated with selection bias. Results from a Cox proportional hazards model indicate that attendance at a community college lowers the hazard rate for completing a bachelor's degree. The results are consistent with previous studies. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.