UNC Student Surveys

1
Enrollment Patterns and Completion Status
Students in North Carolina Public Postsecondary
Institutions
Xiaoyun Yang, UNC-GA Keith J. Brown, UNC-GA J.
Keith Brown, NCCCS
2
Introduction

• Undergraduate students enrollment patterns
  have changed over the past two decades.
• NCES (2005) study shows
• 1995-96 freshmen cohort, 40 had attended more
  than one institution by 2001.
• 1999-00 first-time bachelors degree recipients,
  59 attended more than one institution during
  their undergraduate studies.
• 47 of those who enrolled in 4-yr institutions
  attended more than one institution without
  transferring

3
Literature Review

• Reasons to transfer from 2-yr to 4-yr
  institutions
• lower tuition
• more convenient class locations and flexible time
• smaller class sizes
• a chance to improve GPA
• Factors related to transferring from 4-yr to
  2-yr institutions or taking courses at 2-yr
  institutions without transferring
• financial, emotional, and remedial reasons
• to enroll in developmental skill courses
• to take prerequisite courses
• to supplement credits or coursework at 4-yr
  institutions

4
Research Questions

• What proportion of students stayed in their
  original institutions?
• What proportion of students transferred within
  their original system?
• What proportion of NCCCS students transferred to
  UNC?
• What proportion of UNC students transferred to
  NCCCS?
• What proportion of students went back and forth
  between the two systems?
• How long did it take for these students to obtain
  a degree?

5
Definition of Terms

• First-time freshmen students who graduated from
  a high school in previous year enrolled in NCCCS
  or UNC for the first time.
• Traditional students students who attended only
  one institution for their entire collegiate
  career.
• Parallel transfers students left their initially
  enrolled institution and attended 2 or more
  institutions within NCCCS or UNC system.
• Vertical transfers students who enrolled in
  NCCCS left CC and attended UNC institutions
  regardless whether they obtained a degree from
  NCCCS or only took one course there.

6
Definition of Terms (Cont.)

• Reverse transfers students who enrolled in UNC
  left UNC and went to NCCCS during their
  undergraduate studies.
• Swirlers students went back and forth between
  NCCCS and UNC and attended more than 3
  institutions during their undergraduate years.
• Elapsed semester the number of semesters from
  entry into a program to the awarding of the
  degree.
• Registered semester the number of semesters in
  which students were registered.

7
Methodology and Research Design

• Descriptive analysis
• Longitudinal data from NCCCS UNC
• Enrollment pattern analysis10-year cohort,
  1997-98 through 2006-07
• Graduation rates and time-to-degree
  analysis4-year cohort, 1997-98 through 2000-01
• Only including the traditional college
  students, who going from high school to either
  UNC or NCCCS

8
Enrollment Patterns of the Students In North
Carolina Public Postsecondary Institutions
Percent
9
Enrollment Patterns of the Students In North
Carolina Public Postsecondary Institutions
Percent
10
Enrollment Patterns of the Students Who Started
at NCCCS
Percent
11
Enrollment Patterns of the Students Who Started
at UNC
Percent
12
Graduation Rates of Students in North Carolina
Postsecondary Institutions
13
Time-to-Degree of Students in North Carolina
Postsecondary Institutions
14
ACC and REJ Students Enrollment
15
ACC and REJ Students Graduationand
Time-to-Degree
16
Conclusions of the Study

• Different from other studies conducted regionally
  or nationwide, overwhelming majority of students
  in North Carolina public postsecondary
  institutions enrolled and stayed in their
  original institutions.
• As other studies revealed, students who attended
  more institutions during their undergraduate
  study took longer time to graduate.

17
Conclusions of the Study

• Students in NC public sectors average take about
  10 elapsed semesters and 7 registered semesters
  to complete their study from NCCCS.
• It takes students a little over 9 elapsed
  semesters and close to 9 registered semesters to
  obtain a bachelors degree from UNC institutions.

18
Limitation of the Study

• The research is limited by data availability.
• The research is limited by data reliability.
• Lacking of qualitative research to find more
  in-depth information.
• Data on 4-year private institutions were not
  available.

19
Discussion

• Students at 4-year institutions may have a
  greater attachment to the institution at which
  they begin.
• Fewer barriers to parallel transfer between
  community colleges as opposed to UNC institutions
  increases the number of students attending
  multiple community colleges.
• Community colleges play a safety net role for
  UNC students.
• The statewide articulation agreement between the
  UNC and NCCCS system may be changing student
  attendance behavior.
• Community college students experience more
  interruptions in their educational path than do
  UNC students.

20
Presenters Contact Information

• JKB? J. Keith Brown [phone]
  brownk_at_nccommunitycolleges.edu
• KJB? Keith J. Brown [phone]
• kjb_at_northcarolina.edu
• JJ? Xiaoyun Yang [phone]
• xyang_at_northcarolina.edu