How Did Community College Students Fare after COVID-19 Disruptions? A First Look at the BPS:20/22

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic caused acute disruptions in higher education in the spring of 2020. Institutions had to pivot to online classes and modify safety practices for in-person learning while dealing with significant enrollment declines. The drop in enrollment was generally more severe at community colleges than at public four-year institutions. Community college enrollment has since rebounded, and while some community colleges are still below pre-COVID enrollment levels, others have seen full recoveries. For some students, however, the interruptions to their postsecondary journeys may have long-lasting effects.

Earlier this month, the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released high-level findings from the latest round of the Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal Study (BPS:20/22) in its First Look publication. The study reflects students who enrolled in college for the first time during the 2019-2020 academic year. The aggregate results from the first two waves of the BPS:20/22 offer a preliminary look at the scale and scope of specific COVID-19 related disruptions on first-time college students. Importantly, the report identifies the prevalence of personal and educational disruptions on community college students and measures their attainment and persistence three years following initial enrollment.

What is the BPS?

The BPS survey provides data on a cohort of first-time college students at Title IV eligible institutions and provides data on theses students at three points in time. In each cohort, a nationally representative sample of students are initially surveyed at the end of their first year in postsecondary education and then again three and six years after their initial entry. Survey responses are combined with administrative and financial data to paint a complete picture of students' educational trajectories and employment outcomes over the six years in the study.

The fifth cohort of the study (BPS:20/22) was first surveyed at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year and then again at the end of the 2021-2022 academic year. The BPS is a longitudinal panel dataset, meaning the study follows the same set of individuals across time to understand how characteristics and experiences affect outcomes for different people.

The BPS:20/22 First Look publication only provides descriptive tables from the first two waves of data collection. Sample sizes are small and standard errors are high for some groups of students, and the aggregate values do not allow for determining whether one experience or characteristic caused a student to change paths or enabled a student to succeed. Still, the report offers insights into how college students fared through the pandemic.

Persistence and Attainment, Three Years On

At a high level, student persistence and attainment three years after initially enrolling differs based on the type of institution they first attended. Most students require at least four years to complete a bachelor's degree, so it makes sense that the vast majority of students who initially enrolled at a four-year institution were still enrolled at either the same institution or a different four-year institution. Among students who enrolled at public two-year institutions (community colleges), 6 percent had earned a certificate and 13 percent had earned an associate degree. Roughly 48 percent of first-time community college students were still enrolled — 39 percent at a community college or other sub-baccalaureate institution and 9 percent at a four-year institution. As we've written before, community colleges often have a high share of part-time students, so even without the pandemic disruption, it is not surprising that a large share of these students were still enrolled after three years.

Overall, 23 percent of first-time college students had not earned a credential and were not enrolled in any higher education by 2022. More first-time community college students (33 percent) were not enrolled than first-time students at public or private four-year institutions (16 percent and 11 percent, respectively).

We've written extensively about how and why success may look different at community colleges than four-year colleges, and why community colleges tend to have lower rates of graduation and degree attainment as a result. Relative to four-year schools, community colleges serve a disproportionate share of students from low-income backgrounds, adult learners, first-generation college students, and part-time students. And these students choose to attend community colleges for a variety of reasons. Many are not first-time college students, but rather are returning to higher education to upskill for their current occupation or reskill for a career change. Some students attend for a short time and leave once they've developed the skills needed to secure gainful employment (but before earning a certificate or award).

The "no credential, not enrolled" category obscures the share of students who earned shorter-term workforce credentials. Additionally, students enrolled in non-credit workforce programs are not included in these numbers at all. Still, there is reason to be concerned about the long-term effects of educational disruptions for students who left postsecondary education before they intended. In the next section, we look at the prevalence of some common disruptions for these students.

Personal and Educational Disruptions Varied Across Institution Type

Students were asked about the disruptions they experienced during the spring of 2020 and during the 2020-2021 academic year. The responses partially reflect the different types of students served by institutions. For example, more than a third of students at private nonprofit institutions, many of whom were dependent on their parents and likely lived on or near their campus, moved home during the pandemic. On the other side of the spectrum, only 5.3 percent of community college students reported moving back to their permanent address. Community colleges are most often commuter schools without on-campus housing options and tend to serve local students, meaning many students likely did not leave their permanent address to attend college.

Community college students were more likely to report financial stress in 2020, having greater prevalence of losing a job or having difficulty paying for housing and/or food. While this isn't surprising, given the demographics of typical community college students, it highlights the fact that students across different educational sectors faced very different challenges during the pandemic. The most frequently reported disruption across the BPS respondents was pandemic-related stress. Overall, 72 percent of respondents reported increased stress because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with slight variation among demographics, education pathways, and institution type. This aligns with widespread reports of increased mental health burdens due to pandemic disruptions, an area that is of particular interest to researchers and policymakers.

It is interesting to note that students who reported taking a leave of absence had the lowest attainment and persistence rates. These students completed credentials at even lower rates and were less likely to be enrolled in college after three years than community college students who simply withdrew. One might expect a leave of absence (versus a direct withdrawal) to be a sign of intent to re-enroll after a temporary break. A range of personal characteristics and preferences could contribute to this unexpected pattern, and it will be important to understand what kept these students from returning to college.

We focus here on the disruptions, but it is worth noting that many community college students did earn a credential despite the pandemic interruptions. We know from our conversations with administrators, faculty, and staff that community colleges pivoted to serve students in new ways and built out or maintained robust support services to keep students engaged and interested.

Effective Policy Requires Better Data on What Matters (and What Doesn't)

What do we know about the students who managed to stay the course on their educational journey? Without detailed student-level data, we cannot separate these drivers from the personal, financial, and educational disruptions caused by the pandemic. We also cannot determine the extent to which certain characteristics — parental education, socioeconomic status, race, or gender, for example — either mitigated or worsened the impact these disruptions had on educational attainment and persistence. But the BPS is a robust panel dataset designed to help researchers and policymakers understand these dynamics. When data collection for the latest round of the BPS is complete, the NCES will make available a detailed student-level dataset to support rigorous analysis.

Using resources efficiently and effectively in higher education is a universal priority that requires complete information on community colleges and the students they serve. At the Richmond Fed, we are building a different kind of panel dataset on institutional-level outcomes for community colleges. Understanding the characteristics, pathways, and student support services that facilitate student success can help us identify policy and program interventions that have the greatest likelihood of success. We can also explore the effect of state policies and funding strategies by comparing outcomes at schools within a state across time and between states with different policies. To learn more about our work, join us for a webinar on Nov. 19. We will present key findings from the latest round of our Survey of Community College Outcomes and share our plans for the future of the project.

Views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond or the Federal Reserve System.