Spencer Compares Statewide Policies that Encourage Associate Degree Completion

On March 20, George Spencer of the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University shared his AERA-funded research project looking at the impact of statewide articulation agreements on associate degree completion rates in his presentation “College Student Mobility and the Role of Statewide Articulation Policies.” Dr. Spencer selected five states of the thirty-one with legislation specifically credentialing associate degree coursework for four-year public institutions of higher education in the state (Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, and New Jersey).

Using IPEDS data, his initial study focuses on the eight-year period around the enactment of the policy (four years prior and four years after). He found only students in New Jersey and Mississippi display a significant rate of increase in associate degree completion after policy implementation (with increases between 21 and 25% in general studies associate degree completion).

His work in this area is just beginning and he shared several avenues for future research to test and expand this initial study. He looks at the optimal pipeline of a student completing an associates degree with all core general education credits transferring to the bachelor’s degree, enabling the student to start at the four-year school as a junior.

Articulation policies can open a new pathway for students to work toward a four-year degree, but current research supported by NCES data indicates that the average transfer student losses 8.2 credit hours and about 20% of transfer students are unable to transfer any credits from two-year programs. Despite estimates that roughly 80% of students enroll in two-year programs with the hopes of transferring to a four-year program, data shows only 28% do transfer.