Where to Go From Here? Toward a Model of 2-Year College Students’ Postsecondary Pathway Selection

Abstract

Objective: Empirical work explaining student mobility, particularly postsecondary pathways among 2-year college students, remains limited. This study examines the underlying process that drives 2-year college students into one or more pathways as they navigate higher education. Method: Drawing upon survey, transcript, and interview data from one transfer-focused and two comprehensive community colleges in a Midwestern state, this study uses a grounded theory approach to develop a conceptual model to understand college students’ decision-making process when choosing among competing postsecondary pathways. Results: The resulting College Pathway (Re)Selection Model Among Beginning 2-Year College Students contained two categories—lifetime decision-making and short-term decision-making—that defined the purposes of students’ decisions as they navigate postsecondary education. Within the categories, 2-year college students described the role of payoff, fit, transferability, place, flexibility, and mobility in their decision-making process. Contributions: This study offers a new model that explains what shapes 2-year college students’ decisions and challenges notions of postsecondary pathways, student progress, success, and completion in the context of 2-year college students’ fluid lives and goals.

Increasing STEM Transfer Readiness Among Underrepresented Minoritized Two-Year College Students: Examining Course-Taking Patterns, Experiences, and Interventions

“…The second trajectory is referred to as "detoured". This detoured group experiences delays in transfer and/or engages in "swirling", which, in itself, has many definitions (Wang and Pilarzyk, 2009;Soler, 2020;Wickersham, 2020), though, most generally is defined as backand-forth enrollment at different institutions. The third trajectory is the "deferred" student, which is a student that chooses to forego transfer after credential completion at the two-year college.…”

“…Research has demonstrated the positive impact on STEM success for students that engage with undergraduate research (Brownell and Swaner, 2009;Eddy, 2014;Kilgo et al, 2015), though there are barriers to access for community college students which can be partially overcome through utilizing REU's (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) that specifically target 2-year and URM students. There is also a need to better understand the twoyear student population (Wickersham, 2020), especially the structural inequality and its impact on access and equity for underrepresented minoritized students (Bowleg, 2008 Though successful, the WSTPP has a number of limitations that the Inspire Scholars Program (ISP) was developed to address. One goal of the ISP was to "cast a wider net" through three key program eligibility changes to increase access to the program.…”

Student Alienation in Higher Education Under Neoliberalism and Global Capitalism: A Case of Community College Students’ Instrumentalism in Hong Kong

“…Clark (1960) argues that community college serves a cooling out function in the United States, where students are essentially discouraged from pursuing a bachelor's degree through a transfer but are encouraged to take an associate degree as a terminal degree. However, the transfer rate has been one major concern in understanding the roles of community colleges (DiRamio, 2017;Wickersham, 2020). In view of students' instrumentalism toward education in Hong Kong, it is unsurprising that the option of community college in Hong Kong is essentially taken up by students who desire to get transferred to a bachelor's degree rather than to take an associate degree as a terminal degree (Ng & Cheng, 2001).…”

Investigating Why Academically Successful Community College Students Leave College Without a Degree

“…We also borrow from Wickersham’s (2020) College Pathway (Re)Selection Model to explain community college students’ decision-making process when choosing between different postsecondary pathways. The College Pathway (Re)Selection Model defines the pathway decisions of community college students under one of two broad categories—lifetime decision making and short-term decision making.…”