Objective: This study examines the characteristics, course enrollment patterns, and academic outcomes of students who started their college careers in noncredit courses. Method: Drawing upon a rich dataset that includes transcript and demographic information on both for-credit and noncredit students in multiple institutions, this study explores the demographic and academic profiles of students enrolled in various fields of noncredit education, their course performance in noncredit programs, their educational intent upon initial enrollment, and their transition to the for-credit sector among degree-seeking students. Results: Our results support recent evidence from qualitative studies and studies from a single institution that students enrolled in noncredit programs tend to be adult learners and are typically from a lower socioeconomic background than credit students at community colleges. Yet, more than half of the noncredit students drop out of college after their initial term, even among students who expressed intent to transition to credit-bearing programs. The idiosyncratic patterns of course enrollment and transition to credential programs seem to suggest that there is no general structured pathway or institutional support for credential-seeking noncredit students. Contributions: This article is among one of the first attempts that use student transcript data from multiple institutions to provide a comprehensive understanding of noncredit students and their academic outcomes. Results from this study highlight the importance of future research in exploring institutional services and structures that may effectively facilitate the academic progression and success of noncredit students.

中文翻译：

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社区学院的非学分教育：学生、课程注册和学术成果

目标：本研究调查了在非学分课程中开始大学生涯的学生的特征、课程注册模式和学业成绩。方法：利用包含多个机构中学分和非学分学生的成绩单和人口统计信息的丰富数据集，本研究探讨了就读于非学分教育各个领域的学生的人口统计和学术概况，他们在非学分课程中的课程表现，他们最初入学时的教育意图，以及他们在攻读学位的学生中向学分制的过渡。结果：我们的结果支持来自单一机构的定性研究和研究的最新证据，即参加非学分课程的学生往往是成人学习者，并且通常社会经济背景低于社区学院的学分学生。然而，超过一半的非学分学生在他们的第一个学期结束后就辍学了，即使是在表示有意过渡到学分课程的学生中也是如此。课程注册和过渡到证书课程的特殊模式似乎表明，对于寻求证书的非学分学生没有一般的结构化途径或机构支持。贡献：本文是使用来自多个机构的学生成绩单数据来全面了解非学分学生及其学业成绩的首批尝试之一。这项研究的结果强调了未来研究在探索可以有效促进非学分学生学业进步和成功的机构服务和结构方面的重要性。