Postcollege earnings of former students of California community colleges: Methods, analysis, and implications

In the wake of new federal and state mandates, community colleges are faced with demands to provide accountability reports on student outcomes. With t he use of the Employment Development Department Unemployment Insurance (EDD -UI) wage record data, along with the California Community Colleges Chancel lor's Office Management Information System administrative database, this st udy sought to investigate the extent to which completing an associate degre e and vocational certificate impacts the postcollege earnings of students. Based on information from 700,564 students from California community colleg es during the 1992-93 academic year, the findings suggest that students' ga ins from first year out of college to third year out will differ by age gro up. Among economically disadvantaged students, a strong positive relationsh ip exists between educational attainment and postcollege gains. An importan t finding among vocational students is that as women complete more educatio n, the earnings gap closes between men and women. Finally, this study raise s several policy implications and presents suggestions for future research.