Democratization or Diversion? The Effect of Community Colleges on Educational Attainment

This article estimates the impact of community colleges on educational attainment. Community colleges give those who might not have otherwise attended college the ability to do so (democratization); they also attract students who might otherwise have attended a four-year college (diversion). The effect of democratization on educational attainment is nonnegative; the effect of diversion is unclear a priori. I use variation in access to community colleges as instrumental variables to address self-selection into types of colleges. The results suggest that two-year college students diverted from a four-year college complete fewer years of education. Overall, however, community colleges appear to increase total years of schooling but do not appear to change the likelihood of attaining a bachelor's degree.