Author: Price, Brandon

Columbia College Research Brief

December, 2016

Rates of Persistence, Completion, and Transfer for Students Enrolled in Special Programs

The purpose of the following brief is to examine the rates of persistence, completion, and transfer among students who enrolled in Special Programs (DSPS. TRIO, CalWORKS, and EOPs) at Columbia College.
The sample includes four cohorts, composed of first time freshman and first time transfers from Fall 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 who were enrolled in six or more units.
Research Question 1:
To what degree does the rate of persistence vary between special program participants and their peers at Columbia College?
Students participating in special programs had higher rates of persistence to the second, third, and fourth semester than their peers who were not enrolled in special programs.
Table #1: Persistence to the second, third, and fourth semester among first time students.
Research Question 2:
To what degree does the rate of program completion vary between special program participants and their peers at Columbia College?
Students participating in Special Programs were less likely to earn a degree or certificate than their peers who were not participating in special programs.
Table #2: Proportion of students who earned a degree or certificate.

	N	2nd semester / N %	3rd semester / N %	4th semester / N %
All Students	2121	1857 87.6%	1251 59.0%	1084 51.1%
No Special Programs	1820	1572 86.4%	1054 58.7%	912 50.1%
Special Programs	301	285 94.7%	197 65.4%	172 57.1%

Status	n	Awards	Awards Rate
Special Programs	301	43	14.3%
No Special Programs	1820	311	17.1%

Research Question 3:
To what degree does the rate of transfer vary between special program participants and their peers at Columbia College?
Students participating in special programs were less likely to transfer to a four year institution than their peers who were not enrolled in special programs.
Table #3: Proportion of students who transferred to a 4 year institution.
Discussion and Recommendations
Overall, the results suggested that students participating in Special Programs were more likely to persist than their peers but less likely to complete a program or transfer to a four year institution. One major limitation of this examination is the aggregation of all special programs participants (DSPS, EOPS, CalWORKS, and TRiO) into one group which precludes practitioners from making conclusions about specific programs or treatments. Additional work should be undertaken to aggregate the results by program in order to provide practitioners with more actionable information.
The results do suggest that special programs are effective in promoting persistence among the program participants. Further research should be undertaken to examine why increased persistence is not resulting in increased completion among students participating in Special Programs.

Status	n	Transfer	Transfer Rate
Special Programs	301	36	12.0%
No Special Programs	1820	399	21.9%

For more information contact:
Associate Dean of Student Equity and Success
Brandon Price
(209) 588– 5079 - priceb@yosemite.edu
Research Analyst
Kristin Rascon
(209) 588-5386 rasconk@yosemite.edu