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Impact of Increased Academic Intensity on Transfer Rates: An Application of Matching Estimators to Student-Unit Record Data

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Abstract

The impact of increased academic intensity on transfer rates from community colleges to 4-year institutions has been estimated only from observational data, with the possibility of selection bias. This study uses matching estimators to overcome possible selection bias and estimate the causal impact of increased academic intensity on transfer rates. Using student unit record data from Tennessee for the years 1995 through 2004, I find that taking 12 or more credit hours increases the probability of transfer from between 11% and 15%.

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Notes

  1. “Higher" and “lower" numbers of hours are defined variably in this study. As explained in the methods section, I use cutoffs of 6, 9, and 12 h to define higher and lower numbers of credit hours.

  2. See Heckman and Robb (1985) for a complete discussion.

  3. Distance traveled is measured as the distance from the student's county of origin to the institution's zip code area.

  4. Logistic regression is utilized for ease of comparison between these results and other studies of transfer. Results for simple z-tests for differences of proportions are identical.

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Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the staff at the Tennesse Higher Education Commission, who provided the data for this study. Linda Sax, John Chesslock, and Jennifer Delaney all provided detailed comments and suggestions that improved the paper. Last, the author would like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful and constructive comments. The author bears sole responsibility for the content of this paper.

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  1. Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Pl., Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    William R. Doyle

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Doyle, W.R. Impact of Increased Academic Intensity on Transfer Rates: An Application of Matching Estimators to Student-Unit Record Data. Res High Educ 50, 52–72 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-008-9107-6

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