One way to boost graduation rates is to issue degrees to students who’ve already earned them, which often doesn’t happen with associate degrees.
Roughly half of students who earn a bachelor’s degree after transferring to a four-year institution from a community college fail to receive an associate degree, said Janet Marling, director of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students at the University of North Texas, citing data from the College Board. And 80 percent fail to in California. ...