Dive Brief:
- Policies at some community colleges that require students to carry at least 15 credit hours per semester may be counterproductive, a new study shows.
- For bachelor’s degree programs, students who attended college full-time showed the most success, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported.
- For students returning to college after taking time off, the best outcomes were for those who combined full- and part-time schedules, according to the study.
Dive Insight:
When students return to school after an extended break, they often have new family or work commitments that will fluctuate, so a mix of part- and full-time college schedules helps them balance those commitments. The study, Non-First-Time Student Persistence Patterns, tracked a group of students who started college in the 2005-to-2008 period. The study also showed that different colleges and states had a range of outcomes for returning students.
