Comparing performance of two-year community college students to four-year native students. Retrieved March 21, 2005, from ERIC online (ED 403005) at http://www.cete.org/acve/digests archive.asp

In 1995, a study was conducted of the performance of graduates from a large comprehensive university in southern Mississippi to compare outcomes for native university students and students who had transferred from an area community college. The study sample consisted of 710 of the university's Bachelor's degree graduates from 1994-95, of whom 573 were classified as native students (i.e., those who had initially enrolled in and had attended only the university) and 137 as community college transfers. 'Performance measures used included students ' grade point averages (GPAs), American College Testing (ACT) scores, and the department from which students graduated to determine academic majors. The study found that while, at the point of transfer, the community college students had lower ACT scores than native students, there was no statistically significant difference in GPAs at graduation for the two groups. Also, transfer students tended to major in education and health-related fields, as opposed to liberal arts, fine arts, business, and science. A table of results for native and transfer students by university department is appended. (HAA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document