Performance Funding and Certificate and Degree Production

By Paul Fain. State performance-funding policies that link a relatively high percentage of base funding for community colleges to student outcomes on average lead to more short-term certificate (instructional time of a year or less) completions and fewer associate-degree completions, according to a new study. These results suggest potentially damaging consequences for students, because short-term certificates tend to lead to negative or minimal wage gains, while associate degrees offer substantial wage gains. More...