Education

Students Increasingly Mobile in Path to College Degree

By Caralee J. Adams — March 25, 2015 1 min read
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The route that students take to earning a college degree is not all that linear, new findings from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reveal.

Of all students who completed a four-year degree in 2013-14, about 46 percent had been enrolled at a community college at some point in the previous 10 years, according to the new snapshot report released by the Herndon, Va.-based organization. This figure is up about 1 percent compared to degrees earned in 2011, when the center first analyzed the trend.

Another report released by the center today on interstate mobility of students showed 14.6 percent of 2014 graduates with any level of college credential had attended college in at least one other state or territory in the decade prior to receiving a credential. In 33 states, the mobility index increased since 2010-11.

“Policymakers focused on institution-based accountability measures should consider the increasing interdependencies among institutions in supporting the success of today’s mobile students,” said Doug Shapiro, the executive research director of the center, in a press release.

A version of this news article first appeared in the College Bound blog.