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$2000, ASAP
Community colleges play a key role in the American education system, offering accessible
education and fostering upward mobility for many students. The article from The New York Times
explores a program by the State University of New York (SUNY) that provides financial and academic
support to students to improve retention and graduation rates. This program, modeled after City
University of New York’s (CUNY) Accelerated Study in Associate Program (ASAP), provides a set of
services like textbook fees, transportation stipends, academic advisement, free tutoring, and tuition
funds. In exchange, the students commit to full-time study and meet with their advisers regularly
(Otterman, 2023). The article features the program’s potential benefits and its planned expansion across
SUNY campuses, presenting a positive view of such initiatives. While the components of the program are
not revolutionary, their combination appears to work to increase student persistence (Otterman, 2023).
Still Worth It?
Sub-baccalaureate education accounts for most of the expansion in higher education over the
last century (Kim & Tamborini, 2019). Kim and Tamborini’s article provides data-driven analysis of the
long-term financial benefits of sub-baccalaureate education, including associate degrees and vocational
certificates. By using a comprehensive dataset linking the Survey of Income and Program Participation
(SIPP) to administrative earnings records, the authors track earnings over a twenty-year period following
high school graduation. According to Kim and Tamborini's study higher annual and cumulative twenty-
year earnings up to mid adulthood among individuals with sub-baccalaureate education at all levels
(associate degree, vocational diploma or certificate, and college dropout) relative to high school
graduates are consistent with the notion that sub-baccalaureate education has long-term economic
benefits (Kim & Tamborini, 2019). Their findings reveal substantial financial payoffs for these
educational pathways, with significant variation across fields of study.
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Upward Mobility
Two-year community colleges enroll nearly half of all first-time undergraduates in the United
States, but to ambiguous effect: low persistence rates and the potential for diverting students from 4-
year institutions cast ambiguity over 2-year colleges' contributions to upward mobility (Mountjoy, 2022).
Mountjoy (2022) investigates the impact of community colleges on economic mobility in the United
States. The study finds that community colleges significantly enhance educational attainment and
earnings for students who would not have otherwise attended college, demonstrating a democratizing
effect. The resulting functional overlap between 2-year and 4-year colleges helped fuel debate over a
second question: should 2-year colleges continue to prepare students for 4-year transfer through
academic coursework, or should they differentiate themselves from 4-year institutions by focusing on
terminal vocational training to prepare students for workforce entry? (Montjoy, 2022). For students who
might have attended four-year institutions, community colleges can have a negative diversion impact,
leading to lower educational attainment and earnings. The effects vary by gender and income, with
women and low-income students benefiting more, while the diversion effect is more pronounced
among men and higher-income students. Mountjoy suggests targeted policies to maximize benefits for
non-college goers and mitigate diversion effects, such as enhanced transfer programs and customized
interventions.
Discussion
Each article presents distinct perspectives on community colleges. Kim and Tamborini (2019)
examine the long-term earnings benefits of associate degrees, vocational diplomas, certificates, and
some college education. Utilizing comprehensive data, they track earnings over twenty years,
highlighting that different educational paths offer significant returns, but the benefits vary significantly
across different fields of study. Several vocational diplomas, certificates, and associate degrees are
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associated with higher earnings than bachelor’s degrees in social science, liberal arts, and education
(Kim & Tamborini, 2019). Mountjoy (2022) explores the role of community colleges in promoting
economic mobility. The article develops a new instrumental variable approach to identifying causal
effects along multiple treatment margins and applies it to linked education and earnings registries to
disentangle the net impacts of 2-year college access into two competing causal margins: significant
value-added for 2-year entrants who otherwise would not have attended college, but negative impacts
on students diverted from immediate 4-year entry (Mountjoy, 2022). However, it also demonstrates
that students who might have attended four-year institutions but chose community colleges instead
often experience negative impacts, completing less education and earning less. The study emphasizes
the importance of targeted policies to maximize benefits and minimize diversion effects. Otterman's
(2023) article focuses on the practical implementation of a program by the State University of New York
(SUNY) aimed at improving student retention and graduation rates. The program provides financial and
academic support, such as transportation money, textbook fees, and academic advisement. The article
highlights the success of this program in doubling graduation rates at CUNY and discusses its planned
expansion across SUNY campuses. The article highlights the potential benefits of modest financial
investments combined with comprehensive support services in retaining students and improving their
outcomes. From a biblical perspective, the findings in these studies reflect the mission of community
colleges and support programs to aid students from diverse and often disadvantaged backgrounds,
embodying a spirit of communal support and service, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the
law of Christ (King James Bible, 2017, Galatians 6:2).
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References
Kim, C., & Tamborini, C. R. (2019). Are they still worth it? The Long-Run earnings benefits of an associate
degree, vocational diploma or certificate, and some college. The Russell Sage Foundation Journal
of the Social Sciences, 5(3), 64. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2019.5.3.04
King James Bible. (2017). ProQuest LLC.
Mountjoy, J. (2022). Community colleges and upward mobility. American Economic Review, 112(8),
2580–2630. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20181756
Otterman, S. (2023). Could $2,000 a year keep students in college? The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/nyregion/suny-college-financial-support-asap.html
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