Community college transfer pathways, whereby students begin their postsecondary enrollment at a 2-year institution, are an increasingly popular option for students looking to complete a bachelor's degree. Designed to increase transfer efficiency, articulation agreements between community colleges and 4-year institutions provide structured pathways for students to transition between colleges while minimizing excess credits earned and time to degree. This study examines the early effects of North Carolina’s statewide credit articulation agreement on students’ credit-earning behaviors. Using difference-in-differences and event study analyses, we use administrative data from the 16 University of North Carolina (UNC) System institutions to examine how the implementation of the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement (CAA) impacts credit accumulation for students transferring from North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) institutions into the UNC system. We find that, in the first 4 years after implementation, the CAA decreased credit accumulation upon graduation by two to five credits for some students who were enrolled in CAA-eligible degree programs. Additionally, we found that the policy had a delayed effect with no discernable reduction in credit accumulation until 1–2 years after policy implementation.

对于希望完成学士学位的学生来说，社区大学转学途径是学生越来越受欢迎的选择，通过该途径，学生可以在2年制机构中开始中学入学。旨在提高转学效率的社区大学与四年制学院之间的衔接协议旨在为学生提供在大学之间过渡的结构化途径，同时将获得的超额学分和获得学位的时间降至最低。这项研究考察了北卡罗莱纳州的全州信用衔接协议对学生的信用获取行为的早期影响。使用差异分析和事件研究分析，我们使用来自北卡罗来纳大学（UNC）系统的16个机构的管理数据来检查《全面衔接协议》（CAA）的实施如何影响从北卡罗来纳州社区学院系统（NCCCS）机构转入UNC系统的学生的学分积累。我们发现，在实施后的最初4年中，CAA对某些已加入CAA的学位课程的学生而言，毕业后的学分积累减少了2到5个学分。此外，我们发现该政策具有延迟效果，直到政策实施后1-2年，信贷积累才会明显减少。对于某些已加入CAA的学位课程的学生，CAA毕业后的学分积累减少了2到5个学分。此外，我们发现该政策具有延迟效果，直到政策实施后1-2年，信贷积累才会明显减少。对于某些已加入CAA的学位课程的学生，CAA毕业后的学分积累减少了2到5个学分。此外，我们发现该政策具有延迟效果，直到政策实施后1-2年，信贷积累才会明显减少。