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Abstract
This study used multilevel modeling to examine the extent to which student, academic, institutional, and community-level characteristics impact the baccalaureate attainment of students who transferred with the Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree. Given that AAS transfer students were nested within community colleges, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was insufficient to answer the research questions, and multilevel modeling was needed to account for this clustering effect (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002). Using the conceptual model for community college student success in occupational programs developed by Hirschy, Bremer, and Castellano (2011), the researcher found that baccalaureate completion was a function of student-level, institutional-level, and community-level variables. Findings suggest that a number of inequities exist among AAS completers along lines of race/ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status. Further, findings suggest that community college and county-level characteristics impact baccalaureate attainment for AAS completers. Policy implications include the need to create more bilateral articulation agreements between community colleges and public universities, in addition to seamless pathways to the baccalaureate via applied baccalaureate programs and community college baccalaureates.