The report, which looked specifically at returns on sub-baccalaureate programs in Washington state, found that overall associate degrees and long-term certificates provided good return for their money, with increased wages and better employment opportunities for graduates and certificate holders. Short-term certificates, which can be earned in less than a year, for the most part, showed only small economic returns.
“Our findings that community college credentials lead to both large wage increases but also large increases in employment, should really send a signal to states that investing in community college credentials is a good idea,” said Mina Dadgar, co-author of the report and director of research at the Career Ladders Project.
Short-term certificates are growing in popularity, making up 38 percent of the credentials issued by community colleges nationwide in 2011. The number of students earning short-term certificates increased 151 percent between 2000 and 2010.
Yet the report found that the most substantive economic gains were a result of obtaining either a long-term certificate or associate degree. Among men, earning a long-term certificate was associated with an 11 percent increase in being employed, and earning an associate degree was associated with an 8 percent increase. For women, a long-term certificate was associated with a 9 percent increase in the likelihood of being employed, compared with an 11 percent chance of the same if they earned an associate degree.
There were a few exceptions: short-term protective services certificates, predominantly earned by men, were shown to increase earnings and employability.
“When you broke this down by field of study, there were one or two fields where it looked like there may be something promising in terms of short-term certificates, but ultimately the message was a little bit grim,” said Madeline Joy Trimble, co-author of the report and data analyst at the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment (CAPSEE), housed at Columbia University’s Teacher College.
