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IZA Discussion Paper No. 18786
July 2026
The Labor Market Value of Community College Bachelor’s Degrees: Initial Evidence from a Resume Audit Study in Early Childhood Education
Riley Acton, Camila Morales, Julia Turner, Lois Miller, Kalena E. Cortes

Despite most community college students intending to earn a bachelor’s degree, few successfully transfer and complete one. Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) programs offer an alternative by allowing community colleges to confer bachelor’s degrees directly, yet little is known about how employers value these credentials. We address this question with the first resume audit study of CCB degrees, submitting fictitious applications to real job vacancies while experimentally varying applicants’ credentials, institutions, and demographics. This pilot focuses on the early childhood education (ECE) labor market, a growing CCB field marked by labor shortages and rising educational requirements. We find that employers view CCB degrees similarly to traditional bachelor’s and associate degrees, with statistically indistinguishable interview-request rates. Callback text shows little evidence of differential employer responses, while a net-price simulation suggests sticker-price comparisons overstate CCB affordability. These findings provide new evidence on the labor market value and affordability of CCB degrees and inform an ongoing audit study across additional fields.

Kommunikation
Mark Fallak
mark.fallak@liser.lu
+352 585-855-526
World of Labour
Olga Nottmeyer
olga.nottmeyer-ext@liser.lu
+352 585-855-501
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Christina Gathmann
christina.gathmann@liser.lu

Das IZA@LISER-Netzwerk ist eine weltweite Gemeinschaft für exzellente Forschung in der Arbeitsmarktökonomie und angrenzenden Fachgebieten. Nach dem Wechsel von Bonn wird das Netzwerk nun am Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) koordiniert.

Über das IZA@LISER Network
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