Instructor's Homepage

Lance Parks

Community colleges across the United States have historically helped people improve their economic well-being, and a recently published study by Marcotte, Bailey, Borkoski, and Kienzl (MBBK) shows the magnitude of this contribution under the new economy. Their econometric analysis of 7,021 students from the 2000 follow-up of the National Education Longitudinal Survey (a national statistical sample) led to the following conclusions among others:

1. “….our findings illustrate that the labor market returns associated with a community college education are substantial. Moreover, we generally found substantial returns whether or not students completed degrees, although there were some differences between men and women. Given that community colleges regularly face criticism regarding low graduation rates, the positive returns of enrollment observed here—even in the absence of graduation—should provide some comfort to these institutions…” [pp. 171-172]

2. “We estimated that, on average, young men who enrolled in a community or technical college earned approximately 6 % more annually for each year of FTE [full-time equivalent] coursework completed even when they did not obtain a degree [associate or bachelor’s]…” [p.166]

3. “…men who had obtained an associate degree earned about 14.7 % more annually…than their peers with a high school education…” [p.166]

4. [For young men] “We found no significant difference between returns associated with earning a certificate and the returns associated with completing 1 year of FTE enrollment at a sub-baccalaureate institution. Since most certificates require credit hours equivalent to 1 year of full-time study, this suggests that the earnings advantage associated with certificates are due not to the value of the certificate as a credential but to the value of enrollment and study alone…” [p.166]

5. “In general, larger returns were associated with enrollment in and degrees obtained from community colleges for young women than for young men…women who had associate degrees earned about 47.6 % more annually…than their peers with a high school education [compared to 14.7 % for young men]…women earned 11.1 % more per year…for each FTE year of study in a community college [compared to the 6.6 % figure for young men]…[p.166]

6. “…the return associated with a certificate among women exceeded the return related to an associate degree among men. These differences in postsecondary education returns between men and women highlight the need to estimate empirical models separately by gender…” [p.166]

This study has much relevance for policy makers in higher education and human resources. Using relatively recent data, it corroborates the findings of prior economic research, providing strong evidence of the economic benefits of today's community colleges. As MBBK puts it, “recent research in this area has relied almost exclusively on the NLS-72 and NLSY79 data” –data which use student reports of experiences 30 and 25 years ago, respectively. [p.159]

David E. Marcotte (Dept. of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County), Thomas Bailey (Teachers College, Columbia University), Carey Borkoski (Dept. of Economics, Anne Arundel Community College), and Greg S. Kienzl (American Institutes for Research) document their study in an article (“The Returns of a Community College Education: Evidence From the National Education Longitudinal Survey”) in the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (the Summer 2005 issue or Vol.27, No.2, pp. 157-175).

[Abstract done by Willard Hom, Director, Research & Planning Unit, System Office, California Community Colleges, 8/22/05]

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) tracks the starting salaries of new graduates in particular disciplines.

The NACE's Summer 2003 Salary Survey reports the following average starting salaries for various college degrees:

1. Chemical engineering: $51,853

2. Electrical engineering: $49,946

3. Computer science: $47,419

4. Accounting: $40,546

5. Information sciences: $39,718

6. Marketing: $34,628

7. History: $32,108

8. English: $30,157

9. Psychology: $27,454

According to a 2000-10 job outlook study there will be a ninety-two percent increase of jobs in Networking during this time!

Email the Instructor (parksl@crc.losrios.edu)