Bridging the Gaps: College Pathways to Career Success

JAMES E. ROSENBAUM is professor of sociology, education, and social policy, and research fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. CAITLIN AHEARN is a Ph.D student in Sociology at UCLA. JANET E. ROSENBAUM is assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Public Health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.

College-for-all has become the new American dream. Most high school students today express a desire to attend college, and 90% of on-time high school graduates enroll in higher education in the eight years following high school. Yet, degree completion rates remain low for non-traditional students--students who are older, low-income, or have poor academic achievement--even at community colleges that endeavor to serve them. What can colleges do to reduce dropouts? In Bridging the Gaps, education scholars James Rosenbaum, Caitlin Ahearn, and Janet Rosenbaum argue that when institutions focus only on bachelor's degrees and traditional college procedures, they ignore other pathways to educational and career success. Using multiple longitudinal studies, the authors evaluate the shortcomings and successes of community colleges and investigate how these institutions can promote alternatives to BAs and traditional college procedures to increase graduation rates and improve job payoffs.