Push and Pull in Community College Cross-Enrollment: Remoteness, Articulation, and Student Mobility

TL;DR

This study analyzes how geographic remoteness and credit mobility influence cross-enrollment patterns in a community college system, revealing that less remote colleges have higher mobility and articulation impacts.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on the joint effects of geographic constraints and institutional policies on student cross-enrollment in community colleges.

Findings

Less remote colleges have higher cross-enrollment.

Students in cross-enrollment are more likely to take articulated courses.

Higher equivalency ratios correlate with increased incoming cross-enrollment.

Abstract

Cross-enrollment across institutions can expand access to courses and support student progression. Still, little is known about how geographic constraints and institutional policies jointly shape cross-enrollment within community college (CC) systems. We adopt a push-pull framework: geographic remoteness constrains feasible cross-institution mobility, while credit mobility may attract enrollment expressed as articulation (CC-to-university: credit toward a four-year partner) and course equivalencies (CC-to-CC: equivalencies across the system). Using de-identified administrative records from a 12-institution community college system (100,547 students; 1,290,311 course enrollments), we quantify outgoing and incoming cross-enrollment and relate these patterns to institutional remoteness and credit mobility. We find that less remote colleges exhibit higher outgoing and incoming cross-enrollment than more remote colleges. Further, cross-enrolled students are more likely to take articulated courses, and institutions with higher equivalency ratios receive higher incoming cross-enrollment (8.62% vs. 6.70%). This association was slightly stronger at more remote colleges. This study demonstrates how analysis of complex college systems can surface factors shaping student mobility and inform the design of cross-enrollment and articulation policies in CC systems.