Impacts of Intersection Between Social Capital and Finances on Community College Students’ Pursuit of STEM Degrees

  1. Parent involvement in high school is a significant predictor of transfer intentions.
  2. Parent education levels are a predictor of parent involvement in high schools. The more educated the parent, the more likely he or she is to be involved in school-related activities, help with their homework, and discuss students’ progress in school.
  3. Family encouragement is related to parent involvement in high school and has a mediated effect on transfer intentions through access to institutional agents such as community college advisers.
  4. Community college advising has the most significant effect on transfer than any other variable studied.
  5. Work-study positions on campus are a positive predictor of student persistence. Students working on campus were much more likely to have transfer intentions in STEM fields than those who were not.
  6. The impact of financial aid on transfer intentions is a small, but significant, negative effect. The more financial aid students receive, the less they are likely to have plans to transfer.
  7. Financial concerns and debt aversion are both significant predictors of transfer intentions.
  8. A strong direct effect on the transfer intention from social capital, and a smaller effect from family encouragement, work-study, and parent education.
  9. The final model identified social capital factors related to parental education levels, family encouragement, parent involvement in high school, and access to institutional agents.
  10. Debt aversion did play a role in the model, although not a part of social capital as originally hypothesized.