The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF) provides data on the characteristics of the nation’s college graduates, with a specific emphasis on those in the science and engineering (S&E) workforce. This report focuses on National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) data related to community college attendance by the nation’s employed college graduates who earned their first bachelor’s degree in the United States before calendar year 2018.
Findings from the 2019 NSCG can be found below.
- Among the 51 million college graduates currently in the workforce, 48.6 million reported earning a first bachelor’s degree, 44.7 million of whom earned this degree in the United States.
- A large number of the U.S. college graduates reported having attended a community college. Of the 14.8 million graduates who earned their first bachelor’s degree between 2008 and 2017, more than half (52%) had previously attended a community college and 25% had earned an associate’s degree.
- In 2019, 53% of the 44.7 million employed college graduates with a first bachelor’s degree were women, these women were more likely than their male counterparts to have started at a community college (53% vs. 45%) and to have earned an associate’s degree first (22% versus 20%).
- Members of underrepresented groups were more likely than Whites to have attended community colleges (57% of Hispanics or Latinos and 55% of Blacks or African Americans versus 47% of Whites) and to have earned an associate’s degree (approximately 26% of Hispanics or Latinos and Blacks or African Americans versus 20% of Whites). Asians were more likely than Whites to have attended community colleges (57%) but were equally as likely as Whites (20%) to have an associate’s degree.
- Graduates with a disability were more likely than those without a disability to have attended a community college (56% versus 48%) and to have earned an associates degree first (26% versus 20%).
Approximately 17 million, or 38% of all employed college graduates, earned their first bachelor’s degree in an S&E field. Among all S&E majors, those with degrees in engineering attended community colleges at lower rates than other majors (43% attended community college and 13% earned an associates degree).
- The most frequently cited reason for attending a community college was to earn credits for a bachelor’s degree (76% of recent graduates and 64% of past graduates). Other frequently cited reasons included financial reasons (56% and 42%, respectively) and to prepare for college or increase their change of acceptance to a 4-year college or university (46% and 37%, respectively).
