A new study from the Community College Research Center finds substantial and robust earnings returns to associate degree completion for City University of New York (CUNY) community college students across multiple student subgroups.

Terminal associate degree completers earned about $2,426 more per quarter (roughly $9,700 annually), representing an increase of about 30 percent compared to noncompleters. Nearly as many community college entrants completed a bachelor’s degree as completed only an associate degree, and bachelor’s degree completers saw much larger annual returns—about $16,000 annually relative to noncompleters. Although earnings trajectories vary with timing, demographics, and local labor market conditions, degree completion is consistently associated with improved long-run labor market outcomes.

The study, The Returns to Degree Completion at CUNY’s Community Colleges, by Veronica Minaya, Judith Scott-Clayton, and Joshua K.R. Thomas, was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A240240 to MDRC.