Enrollment Patterns and Completion Status:

Students in North Carolina Public Postsecondary

Institutions

Xiaoyun Yang, UNC-GAXiaoyun Yang, UNC-GAKeith J. Brown, UNC-GAKeith J. Brown, UNC-GA

J. Keith Brown, NCCCSJ. 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 bachelor’s 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

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Literature ReviewReasons 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

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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?

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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.

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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.

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Methodology and Research Design

Descriptive analysis Longitudinal data from NCCCS & UNC Enrollment pattern analysis—10-year

cohort, 1997-98 through 2006-07 Graduation rates and time-to-degree

analysis—4-year cohort, 1997-98 through 2000-01

Only including the “traditional” college students, who going from high school to either UNC or NCCCS

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Enrollment Patterns of the Students In North Carolina Public Postsecondary Institutions

83.0581.26 83.26 84.71

93.3998.32

71.92 73.52 73.7275.76

88.57

97.19

50

60

70

80

90

100

1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07

Enr. & Stayed in Orig. System Enr. & Stayed in Orig. Inst.

Per

cent

9

9.34 9.74

7.46

4.82

1.13

11.69 11.61

8.70

4.79

1.63

4.793.97

1.580.72

0.06

0.781.86

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07

Parallel Transfers Vertical & Reverse Transfer Returners Swirlers

Per

cent

Enrollment Patterns of the Students In North Carolina Public Postsecondary Institutions

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Enrollment Patterns of the Students Who Started at NCCCS

99.0095.2784.27

79.6681.67 82.30 97.4488.87

71.2069.2766.2767.51

1.569.98

13.0313.3914.16

1.01

8.89

13.8916.2114.24

1.920.00

10.0020.0030.0040.0050.0060.0070.0080.0090.00

100.00

1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07

Enr.in NCCCS Enr.in 1 CC Parallel TransfersVertical Transfers C-U-C (Returners) NCCCS Swirlers

Per

cent

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Enrollment Patterns of the Students Who Started at UNC

83.6981.04 83.35 85.1592.07 97.80

74.42 76.81 77.49 78.93

88.3597.00

6.62

0.802.09

6.819.4510.25

6.270.081.830.00

10.0020.0030.0040.0050.0060.0070.0080.0090.00

100.00

1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07

Enr.in UNC Enr.in 1 UNC Parallel TransfersReverse Transfers U-C-U (Returners) UNC Swirlers

Per

cent

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Graduation Rates of Students in North Carolina Postsecondary Institutions

# Started NCCCS Graduates UNC Graduatesin the category N % N %

Students started at NCCCS:Enrolled & Stayed in NCCCS 40,255 6,522 16.20

Enrolled in Only One CC 33,270 5,031 15.12Enrolled in More Than One CC 6,985 1,491 21.35

C-U transfers 7,272 1,913 26.31 4,615 63.46C-U-C 1,137 270 23.75 19 1.67NCCCS swirlers 979 271 27.68 511 52.20

NCCCS Sub-total 49,643 8,976 18.08 5,145 10.36

Students started at UNC:Enrolled & Stayed in UNC 77,755 1 0.00 58,691 75.48

Enrolled in Only One UNC 71,169 0.00 53,798 75.59Enrolled in More Than One UNC 6,586 1 0 4,893 74.29

U-C transfers 9,541 1,382 14.48 118 1.24U-C-U 5,940 543 9.14 3,662 61.65UNC swirlers 1,667 223 13.38 435 26.09

UNC Sub-total 94,903 2,149 2.26 62,906 66.28

Total 144,546 11,125 7.70 68,051 47.08

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Time-to-Degree of Students in North Carolina Postsecondary Institutions

CC Graduates UNC GraduatesETD RTD ETD RTD

Enrolled & Stayed in NCCCS 7.74 5.86Enrolled in Only One CC 6.81 5.38Enrolled in Only Two CC 10.6 7.3Enrolled in 3+ CC 12.66 8.62

C-U transfers 11.84 9.63 10.82 9.95C-U-C 12.44 9.45 11.42 10.47NCCCS swirlers 13.76 11.21 12.18 11.04

Enrolled & Stayed in UNC 8.86 8.69Enrolled in Only One UNC 8.77 8.63Enrolled in Only Two UNC 9.83 9.37Enrolled in 3+ UNC 10.6 9.94

U-C transfers 10.82 8.14 10.32 9.67U-C-U 13.73 10.59 10.99 10.13UNC swirlers 13.74 10.9 11.97 10.98Total 9.5 7.34 9.15 8.89

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ACC and REJ Students’ Enrollment

ACC REJCohort N % N %

1997-98 711 1.99 1,085 3.041998-99 775 2.15 1,125 3.121999-00 766 2.08 1,312 3.572000-01 203 0.56 354 0.982001-02 985 2.08 1,609 3.402002-03 925 2.11 1,697 3.882003-04 1,029 2.15 1,721 3.592004-05 1,154 2.30 1,910 3.812005-06 1,155 2.30 1,688 3.362006-07 1,123 2.08 1,823 3.38Total 8,826 2.02 14,324 3.27

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ACC and REJ Students’ Graduationand Time-to-Degree

Graduation:

UNC GraduatesN % N % N % N % % over all

ACC 2,455 100.00 631 25.70 1,135 46.23 712 62.73 29.00REJ 3,876 100.00 595 15.35 1,404 36.22 768 54.70 19.81

Time-to-Degree:

CC Graduates UNC GraduatesETD RTD ETD RTD

ACC 9.61 7.55 10.7 9.86REJ 10.74 8.45 11.27 10.54

Attended CC CC Graduates Attended UNC

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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.

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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 bachelor’s degree from UNC institutions.

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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.

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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.

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Presenters’ Contact Information

JKB: J. Keith Brown – (919) 807-6979 brownk@nccommunitycolleges.edu

KJB: Keith J. Brown – (919) 962-4547kjb@northcarolina.edu

JJ: Xiaoyun Yang – (919) 962-4549 xyang@northcarolina.edu