Community Colleges

This article looks at the labor-market returns to Kentucky community colleges ’ degrees, diplomas, and certificates. Associate’s degrees and diplomas are associated with increases in quarterly earnings of approximately 20 percent for men and 40 percent for women. Certificates are associated with quarterly earnings increases of 9 percent for men and 3 percent for women. With respect to fields of study, health and vocational fields have higher returns than business and services fields. There are no clear regional patterns in the returns to degrees, diplomas, and certificates, but there is substantial regional variation in the returns to all three awards. All three awards are associated with higher employment probabilities, with noticeably smaller probabilities for certificates