The 2 + 2 Myth

The Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) has recently been airing radio ads touting their guaranteed admissions program, whereby students who complete an associate's degree at NOVA are guaranteed admission to 39 institutions, public and private, ranging from the University of Virginia to the University of Phoenix.

This type of program is called 2 + 2, because students can, theoretically at least, complete their associate's degree in two years, transfer their credits to a four-year school and enter as a junior, and then complete the final two years at the baccalaureate institution. NOVA's ads ask, "Seeking a bachelor's degree? Start with NOVA...finish at a university of your choice - GUARANTEED!" Those are powerful and misleading ellipses, because 2 + 2 programs are little more than tantalizing mirages.

It's a shame that 2 + 2 programs don't work better, because they offer a lot of promise both for individuals and state policymakers. An individual who successfully completes the program has gained a lot. They've saved money for their first two years, because community colleges cost less than four-year ones. And, since community colleges are often more convenient to beginning students, it might mean the student can live at home or continue at the same job for their first two years of school. They actually earn two credentials along the way, an associate's degree and a bachelor's degree, with all the attendant extra earnings potential that implies. The state benefits because it's cheaper for them to pay for an additional student at a community college than for an additional one at a four-year school. They maximize their resources.

The reality is it takes an incredibly special student to navigate this process as intended. They take the wrong classes or not enough. They must take remedial courses before being eligible for college-level coursework. Their original hopes of an associate degree fizzle and they drop out, or they finish the associate's and decide that's enough. They earn low grades. They don't realize they're eligible for financial aid, or, because financial aid covers only tuition and not fees, textbooks, or living expenses, they find the financial burden unmanageable. If and when they transfer, the four-year institutions don't accept all their credits. Or they do, but only as generic credit, not for grade, and not to be applied to any major or minor. The four-years also impose arbitrary rules on the number of credits transferred, saying that the student must complete the last x credits at their school.

While we know the obstacles are substantial, in general, there are just enough snippets of information out there to show us the chances of success at NOVA:

• NOVA's graduation rates are very low, at 10 percent for men and 16 percent for women. These are for first-time, full-time students only, and we know that graduation rates for part-time students tend to be even lower.
• Of the students who do finish, it takes them much longer than two years. Statewide, of the small fraction of students who are able to complete an associate's degree at all, it takes them an average of 3.9 years. They accumulate far more credits than the minimum.
• NOVA reports that only 14 percent of students transfer to another institution.
  

If they finish, and if they transfer, NOVA students must then figure out how many of their credits they can bring with them. This is by no means the same for every institution, or even for colleges within institutions. George Mason University, for example has three separate agreements with NOVA, one for general admission, one for early childhood education, and another for nursing. Browsing the legal-contract-like agreements between NOVA and the 39 institutions shows just how complex they can be. They have different limits on transferred credits and GPAs, and they have different rules concerning the general education curriculum.

Researchers have found sizable "penalties" for students who try the 2 + 2 route to a bachelor's degree compared to those who entered a four-year institution from the outset. That doesn't mean we should push all students into four-year institutions, but it does mean we need to work at making the promise of 2 + 2 into a reality. Students need better information on their chances of success, but we also need more responsible and honest advertisements.