The road less traveled? Students who enroll in multiple institutions.
Peter, Katharin ; Cataldi, Emily Forrest
Introduction
As of 2001, 40 percent of students who enrolled in postsecondary
education for the first time in 1995-96 had attended more than one
institution (table A). Over the course of the undergraduate education of
1999-2000 college graduates (first-time bachelor's degree
recipients), a majority (59 percent) had attended more than one
institution. Even among 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients who
began in 4-year institutions, about 47 percent had attended another
institution at some point with or without transferring. Much of the
research on students who attend multiple institutions has focused on
those who make a permanent transition from one institution to another
(Bradburn and Hurst 2001; McCormick 1997). For the most part, previous
literature has not reported on the other ways in which students enroll
in multiple institutions, including co-enrollment (i.e., attending more
than one institution simultaneously, also called "overlapping
enrollment" or "dual enrollment") and attending another
institution without transferring from the first institution. The purpose
of this study is to provide an overview of the extent to which
undergraduates attend multiple institutions as well as the relationship
between multiple institution attendance and persistence, attainment, and
time to degree. Students who attended multiple institutions are the
population of interest here. Subsets of this population will also be
examined-specifically, those who
* attended two or more institutions at one time (co-enrolled),
* transferred between institutions, or
* began at a 4-year institution and attended a 2-year institution
at some point.
This report focuses on both 1995-96 beginning postsecondary
students and 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients and is
organized by survey and beginning institution type.
This analysis uses data from the 1996/01 Beginning Postsecondary
Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:96/01) and the 2000/01 Baccalaureate
and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:2000/01). BPS:96/01 is a
longitudinal survey of students who first began their postsecondary
education in 1995-96. The last follow-up survey was conducted in 2001, 6
years after students began their postsecondary education, by which time
some students were no longer enrolled in postsecondary education, some
had completed degrees or certificates, and some remained enrolled.
B&B:2000/01 provides data on students who received a bachelor's
degree in the 1999-2000 academic year, regardless of when they began
their postsecondary education. Both studies used in this report are
based on a representative sample of postsecondary education institutions
in the United States and Puerto Rico and the students within those
institutions. This analysis examines differences in student enrollment
patterns using standard t tests to determine statistical significance,
and a two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to detect differential
changes by testing for interaction effects. Statistical significances
for both tests are reported at p < .05. Standard error tables are
available online at http://nces.ed.gov/das/library/reports.asp.
Beginning Postsecondary Students
As of 2001, 40 percent of 1995-96 beginning postsecondary students
had attended more than one institution, including 32 percent who had
transferred from one institution to another and 11 percent who had
co-enrolled (table A).1 Among beginning postsecondary students who had
attended more than one institution, about one-quarter had attended more
than two institutions.
Not surprisingly, students' attendance patterns differed
according to the level and control of institution they first attended.
Students who began in 2-year institutions were more likely than students
who began in 4-year institutions to attend more than one institution or
to transfer (table A). For example, 47 percent of students who began in
public 2-year institutions had attended more than one institution as of
2001, compared with 39 and 37 percent of students who began in public
4-year and private not-for-profit 4-year institutions, respectively. No
difference, however, could be detected between students who began in
2-year and in 4-year institutions in their likelihood of ever
co-enrolling. Among students who began in 4-year institutions, those in
public institutions were more likely than their private not-for-profit
counterparts to transfer or ever attend public 2-year institutions.
Twenty-seven percent of those who started in public 4-year institutions
had transferred and one-fifth had enrolled in public 2-year
institutions, compared with 24 and 14 percent, respectively, of students
who began in private not-for-profit 4-year institutions. No difference
was detected between students in public and in private not-for-profit
4-year institutions in the number of institutions they attended or their
likelihood of co-enrolling.
In general, among 1995-96 beginning postsecondary students, more
traditional students, such as younger students and those who attended
full time, were more likely to attend multiple institutions than their
older or part-time counterparts. Likewise, dependent students and those
who did not delay their postsecondary enrollment were more likely to
attend multiple institutions than their counterparts who were
independent or who delayed their enrollment. For example, among students
who began at 4-year institutions, 39 percent of dependent students had
attended more than one institution as of 2001, compared with 27 percent
of independent students. Conversely, students with more than one
characteristic that placed them at risk of not completing postsecondary
education were less likely than their counterparts with one or no such
characteristics to attend multiple institutions. (2) However, these
characteristics are also associated with students' likelihood of
persisting in their postsecondary programs. The longer students persist,
the more opportunity they have to attend more than one institution.
Thus, to some extent, the association between these risk factors and
multiple institution attendance may be due to the length of time
students are enrolled.
The association between dependency status and multiple institution
attendance was particularly apparent among students in public 2-year
institutions, also known as community colleges. That is, in public
2-year institutions, dependent students were more likely than
independent students to attend more than one institution (58 vs. 27
percent). This may be due, in part, to the fact that dependent students
were more likely to transfer to 4-year institutions to earn a
bachelor's degree than their independent peers. (3) Similarly,
independent students participate in programs leading to vocational
certificates more often than dependent students (Horn, Peter, and Rooney
2002). Because these programs tend to be of short duration (i.e., 1 year
or less), students may have less opportunity or reason to transfer. In
addition, independent students are more likely to attend part time,
which is also associated with lower rates of multiple institution
attendance. Independent students are also more likely to have families,
careers, and other responsibilities that may influence their ability to
move from school to school. In contrast, dependent students are more
likely to enroll in community colleges with the intention of
transferring to a 4-year institution and attaining a bachelor's
degree.
For 1995-96 postsecondary students beginning in 4-year
institutions, multiple institution attendance was negatively related to
degree attainment within 6 years. It appears, however, that for some
students, multiple institution attendance may have only delayed
attainment. For example, among students who began in 4-year
institutions, those who attended more than one institution were less
likely than students who attended only one institution to have attained any degree (55 vs. 71 percent); however, students attending more than
one institution were more likely than those who attended one institution
to still be enrolled in 2001 (25 vs. 8 percent) (figure A). About
one-fifth of both groups were not enrolled and had not earned a degree.
These results suggest that students who attended more than one
institution may have needed more time to finish and that, given enough
time, they may ultimately attain a degree. On the other hand, multiple
institution attendance involving co-enrollment appeared to be positively
related to persistence and attainment.
Relationship of specific variables to persistence, attainment, and
time to degree
In order to take into account the interrelationship of factors
associated with multiple institution attendance, a multivariate analysis
was conducted. The analysis examined the relationship between multiple
institution attendance patterns and 6-year persistence and attainment
among beginning postsecondary students. The analysis included students
who began their postsecondary studies in 1995-96 at 4-year institutions
with a bachelor's degree goal and measured their likelihood of
attaining a bachelor's degree or being enrolled in 4-year
institutions 6 years later. It took into account beginning institution
sector (i.e., public or private not-for-profit), types of multiple
institution attendance, and several other variables associated with both
multiple institution attendance and persistence, including income, GPA,
and number of risk factors. After taking the covariation of these
variables into account, the results still indicated that 6-year
persistence was positively associated with co-enrolling and negatively
associated with transferring and enrolling in public 2-year
institutions.
(1) Includes students who attained a bachelor's degree,
associate's degree, or certificate.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard
error tables are available at
http://nces.ed.gov/das/library/reports.asp.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics, 1996/01 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study
(BPS:96/01).
Bachelor's Degree Recipients
While the previous section focused on first-time beginners in
postsecondary education, this section looks at students who attained
bachelor's degrees in 1999-2000 regardless of when they began
postsecondary education. The BPS survey includes students who began
postsecondary education in 1995-96 and, therefore, includes students who
did not attain a degree as well as those who attained certificates,
associate's degrees, and bachelor's degrees. B&B, however,
looks retrospectively at those students who attained bachelor's
degrees in 1999-2000, regardless of their path to a bachelor's
degree or the time required to attain it. Therefore, these two cohorts
are not directly comparable. This section focuses on bachelor's
degree recipients.
An examination of the multiple institution attendance patterns of
1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients revealed that a majority (59
percent) attended more than one institution during their undergraduate
education, including 35 percent who transferred and 9 percent who
co-enrolled at some point.4 Among those who started at 4-year
institutions, 37 percent had also attended 2-year institutions.
Among bachelor's degree recipients, independent students,
older students, and students with more persistence risk factors were
more mobile during their postsecondary studies than dependent students,
younger students, and students with fewer persistence risk factors.
Although these findings appear to contradict the BPS findings, the
populations are not comparable: unlike beginning postsecondary
students-whose risk factors are identified when they first enroll-in the
B&B study, most of college graduates' risk factors are
determined when they acquire their bachelor's degree. Thus, over
the course of their enrollment, college graduates may become independent
and develop additional persistence risk factors such as becoming a
parent. Furthermore, students who take longer to attain a degree have
more opportunities to attend multiple institutions and may not be
captured in the BPS study, which only encompasses 6 years. Also,
participants in the B&B study have all obtained a bachelor's
degree-thus having overcome whatever persistence risk factors they may
have at the time of the survey. When looking at specific persistence
risk factors that measure characteristics of graduates when they began
their postsecondary education, among college graduates who began at
4-year institutions, those who delayed entry into postsecondary
education and those who worked full time during their first year
enrolled were more likely than their counterparts who did not delay
entry or work full time to attend multiple institutions.
Consistent with the results found for beginning postsec-ondary
students in BPS:96/01, in which multiple institution attendance was
associated with slowed progress toward degree or certificate attainment,
data from B&B:2000/01 indicated that attending more than one
institution was associated with slowed progress toward the
bachelor's degree (figure B). This may be related to the difficulty
of transferring credits, different requirements at various institutions,
gaps in enrollment, or mitigating factors such as a move, job change, or
change in family status. Other reasons or a combination of reasons may
also influence progress toward the bachelor's degree for students
who attend multiple institutions. Among 1999-2000 bachelor's degree
recipients who began in 4-year institutions, as the number of
institutions attended increased, so did the average time to completion.
Co-enrolling and transferring among bachelor's degree recipients
who began in 4-year institutions also resulted in their taking more time
to complete a degree. However, differences by sector for these types of
attendance patterns were observed.
In the B&B:2000/01 survey, college graduates were asked to
report their main purpose for attending multiple institutions. As
expected, those who began in public 2-year colleges were more likely
than those who began in 4-year institutions to report transfer as their
main purpose. That is, 63 percent of those who began in public 2-year
colleges listed transfer as their main purpose for attending multiple
institutions. However, about one-half of students who began in 4-year
institutions (both public and private not-for-profit) also reported
transfer as their main purpose. In addition, about one-third of
bachelor's degree recipients who began in 4-year institutions said
they enrolled in more than one institution to take additional classes.
NOTE: Standard error tables are available at
http://nces.ed.gov/das/library/reports.asp.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics, 2000/01 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study
(B&B: 2000/01).
Conclusions
Attending more than one postsecondary institution during the course
of undergraduate enrollment is a common practice. Among students who
enrolled in postsecondary education for the first time in 1995-96, 40
percent had attended more than one institution as of 2001, while among
2001 college graduates, nearly 60 percent had done so. As would be
expected, students who began their postsecondary education in a
community college were more likely to transfer than those who began in
4-year institutions, because community college students typically must
transfer to earn a bachelor's degree. Nevertheless, about
one-quarter of those students who started in 4-year institutions had
transferred as of 2001, and for them, transfer was associated with lower
persistence rates. Among 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients,
attending more than one institution (or more than two institutions for
those who began in community colleges), transferring, and co-enrolling
were each associated with longer average time to completion of their
bachelor's degrees.
When taking risk status and other related variables into account,
multivariate analyses of beginning postsecondary students who began
their postsecondary education in a 4-year institution with a
bachelor's degree goal indicated a negative association between
transfer and persistence. That is, among these students, those who had
transferred were less likely than those who had not transferred to
attain a degree or be enrolled in 4-year institutions 6 years after
first enrolling in postsecondary education. As with transfer, beginning
postsecondary students who began their postsecondary studies in a 4-year
institution and who attended a community college at some time during
their enrollment were less likely to persist for 6 years or to graduate
than their counterparts who had not attended a community college. In
contrast, beginning students who had ever co-enrolled were more likely
to persist or attain a bachelor's degree than those who had not.
References
Berkner, L., He, S., and Forrest Cataldi, E. (2002). Descriptive
Summary of 1995-96 Beginning Postsecondary Students: Six Years Later
(NCES 2003-151). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National
Center for Education Statistics.
Bradburn, E.M., and Hurst, D.G. (2001). Community College Transfer
Rates to 4-year Institutions Using Alternative Definitions of Transfer
(NCES 2001-197). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National
Center for Education Statistics.
Horn, L., Peter, K., and Rooney, K. (2002). Profile of
Undergraduates in U.S. Postsecondary Institutions: 1999-2000 (NCES
2002-168). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center
for Education Statistics.
Horn, L.J., and Premo, M.D. (1995). Profile of Undergraduates in
U.S. Postsecondary Education Institutions: 1992-93, With an Essay on
Undergraduates at Risk (NCES 96-237). U.S. Department of Education.
Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
McCormick, A.C. (1997). Transfer Behavior Among Beginning
Postsecondary Students: 1989-94 (NCES 97-266). U.S. Department of
Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
Footnotes
(1) In this section, a student was considered to have transferred
if that student left one institution and enrolled in another institution
for at least 4 months and a student was considered to have co-enrolled
if that student overlapped enrollment at more than one institution for
at least 1 month.
(2) Persistence risk factors include delaying enrollment, having no
high school diploma, enrolling part time, being financially independent,
having dependents other than a spouse, being a single parent, and
working full time while enrolled. For more information, see Horn and
Premo (1995).
(3) BPS:96/01 Data Analysis System. Not shown in tables.
(4) In this section, a student was considered to have transferred
if that student indicated that he or she had attended more than one
postsecondary institution before completing a bachelor's degree and
did so in order to transfer between schools, and a student was
considered to have co-enrolled if that student enrolled at two or more
institutions for more than 1 month within the academic year.
Data sources: The NCES 1996/01 Beginning Postsecondary Students
Longitudinal Study (BPS: 96/01) and 2000/01 Baccalaureate and Beyond
Longitudinal Study (B&B:2000/01).
For technical information, see the complete report: Peter, K., and
Forrest Cataldi, E. (2005). The Road Less Traveled? Students Who Enroll
in Multiple Institutions (NCES 2005-157).
Author affiliations: K. Peter and E. Forrest Cataldi, MPR Associates, Inc.
For questions about content, contact Aurora D'Amico
(aurora.d'amico@ed.gov).
To obtain the complete report (NCES 2005-157), call the toll-free
ED Pubs number (877-433-7827) or visit the NCES Electronic Catalog (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch).
Table A. Percentage distribution (by columns) of 1995-96 beginning
postsecondary students by the type of the first institution attended,
according to multiple institution attendance patterns
Type of first institution
Public Public Private not-for-
Attendance patterns Total (1) 2-year 4-year profit 4-year
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Number of institutions attended
One 59.7 52.8 61.2 62.8
More than one 40.4 47.2 38.9 37.2
Two 30.1 35.4 28.7 27.0
Three 8.6 10.2 8.3 8.0
Four or more 1.7 1.7 1.9 2.2
Co-enrolled
Never co-enrolled 89.2 88.6 87.6 86.9
Sometimes co-enrolled 10.9 11.4 12.4 13.1
Transfer status
Never transferred 67.9 58.5 73.0 76.3
Transferred 32.1 41.5 27.0 23.7
Once 25.9 34.3 21.0 17.4
Twice 5.7 7.0 5.3 5.3
Three times 0.5 0.2 0.6 1.0
(1) Total includes students who began at types of institutions not
shown here.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard error
tables are available at http://nces.ed.gov/das/library/reports.asp.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics, 1996/01 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study
(BPS:96/01); and Berkner, L., He, S., and Forrest Cataldi, E. (2002).
Descriptive Summary of 1995-96 Beginning Postsecondary Students: Six
Years Later (NCES 2003-151).
