A Comparison of the Academic Performance of Jamaican Community College Transfer Students and Native University Students Enrolled in a Collaborative Baccalaureate Degree Program

Abstract

There is a perception in the Jamaican postsecondary education system that students who begin baccalaureate studies at community colleges do not perform as well academically as those who begin at the public universities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the academic performance of transfer students who began their baccalaureate studies under a franchising arrangement between a community college and a university with the academic performance of native university students. Grade point average, time to degree, and baccalaureate degree attainment were used as proxies for academic performance. The study’s conceptual framework was developed from existing models of student attrition. Based on these models, it was hypothesized that institutional type and student characteristics were significant factors in determining a student’s academic success in baccalaureate degree studies. T-tests, one-way ANOVA, and logistic regression were used to analyze data from a stratified sample of transfer and “native†juniors selected from a Jamaican public university. The study compared the academic performance of the two groups as each progressed toward attaining the baccalaureate degree. The study found no significant difference between the academic performances of the two groups. It was determined that the students’ likelihood of degree attainment was not affected by the institution where they started their baccalaureate studies but, instead, by their lower division grade point average. Based on these findings, the study presented a number of recommendations for policy, practice, and future research.