Recent state policy efforts have focused on increasing attainment among adults with some college but no degree (SCND). Yet little is actually known about the SCND population. Using data from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), we provide the first detailed profile on the academic, employment, and earnings trajectories of the SCND population and how these compare with VCCS graduates. We show that the share of SCND students who are academically ready to re-enroll and would benefit from doing so may be substantially lower than policy makers anticipate. Specifically, we estimate that few SCND students (approximately 3%) could fairly easily re-enroll in fields of study from which they could reasonably expect a sizable earnings premium from completing their degree.

最近的州政策努力集中在提高拥有一些大学但没有学位 (SCND) 的成年人的成就上。然而，人们对 SCND 人口实际上知之甚少。使用来自弗吉尼亚社区学院系统 (VCCS) 的数据，我们提供了第一份关于 SCND 人口的学术、就业和收入轨迹的详细资料，以及这些资料与 VCCS 毕业生的比较情况。我们表明，在学术上准备好重新注册并从中受益的 SCND 学生的比例可能大大低于政策制定者的预期。具体来说，我们估计很少有 SCND 学生（约 3%）可以相当容易地重新注册他们可以合理地期望从完成学位获得可观收入溢价的研究领域。