Leaving the Community College: A Profile of Community College Starters outside of the Classroom

Abstract

A substantive amount of research has been conducted on how work influences persistence and completion, for those who decide to leave we know little about where they go to work and how much they earn. The purpose of this study was to explore the work behaviors of a cohort of students who began their postsecondary experience at a community college for those who, within 6 years after high school, leave the community college without a certificate or degree—“leavers”—are compared with their peers who earned a certificate or degree. Utilizing a student unit-record dataset, “leavers” were more likely to be African American or Latino with low levels of college readiness. For the first 5 years after high school, “leavers” had higher median quarterly earnings than those who completed. Lastly, the industry employing the largest number of “leavers” was full-service restaurants. Implications and direction for future research are presented.

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