Associate's Degree Seekers: Institutional Cohorts
Main Findings
Introduction
Findings for associate’s degree-seeking students on this page are based mainly on analysis of 559,068 associate’s degree-seeking students who entered one of 57 public institutions of higher education in Texas from 2008-09 through 2013-14.
Cumulative net VAE values are averages, stated in 2023 dollars, for cohorts of entering students that include a mix of eventual completers and non-completers.
Cumulative Net VAE
Associate’s degree-seeking students who entered public institutions of higher education in Texas from 2008-09 through 2013-14 on average experienced cumulative net VAE of $25,338 in year 10 after entry.
These students’ cumulative net VAE reached a low point of -$10,282 in year 4 after entry, when their combined losses from paying tuition and fees and from foregone earnings peaked.
In year 7 after entry, these students reached a financial break-even point when their cumulative net VAE turned positive for the first time.
Exhibit A1. Cumulative Net VAE for Associate’s Degree-seeking Students, Entry Years 2008-09 through 2013-14
Exhibit Note: Cumulative net VAE values in this exhibit are averages, stated in 2023 dollars, for cohorts of entering students that include a mix of eventual completers and non-completers.
Disaggregation of Cumulative Net VAE
For associate’s degree-seeking students who enrolled from 2008-09 through 2013-14, the table below disaggregates cumulative net VAE into its cost and earnings components.
An important insight from the table below is that students’ cumulative net cost of attendance (which sum to $2,221) is far smaller than their cumulative losses in foregone earnings (which peak at -$8,463 in year 4).
Exhibit A2. Disaggregation of Cumulative Net VAE for Associate’s Degree-seeking Students, Entry Years 2008-09 through 2013-14
Exhibit Note: Cumulative net VAE values and other values in this exhibit are averages, stated in 2023 dollars, for cohorts of entering students that include a mix of eventual completers and non-completers.
Cumulative Net VAE by Entry Year
The exhibit below plots cumulative net VAE for the six single-year cohorts of associate’s degree-seeking students who enrolled from 2008-09 through 2013-14 and that are graphed as a pooled multi-year cohort in Exhibit A1 above.
Cumulative net VAE across these six single-year entering cohorts ranged from $16,364 (for the 2008-09 entering cohort) to $30,021 (for the 2013-14 entering cohort).
Exhibit A3. Cumulative Net VAE for Associate’s Degree-seeking Students, Individual Entry Years 2008-09 through 2013-14
Exhibit Note: Cumulative net VAE values in this exhibit are averages, stated in 2023 dollars, for cohorts of entering students that include a mix of eventual completers and non-completers.
Cumulative Net VAE by Institution
Fifty-six (98%) of 57 institutional cohorts of associate’s degree-seeking students who enrolled from 2008-09 through 2013-14 experienced positive cumulative net VAE.
Cumulative net VAE for these institutional cohorts ranged widely from $113,101 (for the highest-performing institutional cohort) to -$6,934 (for the lowest-performing institutional cohort).
Exhibit A4. Cumulative Net VAE for Institutional Cohorts of Associate’s Degree-seeking Students, Entry Years 2008-09 through 2013-14
Exhibit Note: Cumulative net VAE values in this exhibit are averages, stated in 2023 dollars, for cohorts of entering students that include a mix of eventual completers and non-completers.
Correlation to Completion Rates
Cumulative net VAE for cohorts of associate’s degree-seeking students who enrolled from 2008-09 through 2013-14 correlates positively and strongly with the percentage of a cohort that completed a certificate, associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree (at the institution or elsewhere) during the 10-year post-entry follow-up period.
Exhibit A5: Cumulative Net VAE versus Completion Rate of Associate’s Degree-seeking Students, Entry Years 2008-09 through 2013-14
Exhibit Note: The x-axis in this exhibit plots the percentage of a cohort that completed a certificate, associate’s degree or bachelor’s degree (at the institution or elsewhere) during the 10-year post-entry follow-up period. Cumulative net VAE values in this exhibit are averages, stated in 2023 dollars, for cohorts of entering students that include a mix of eventual completers and non-completers.