Riverside City College
Comparative Study of Student Success
Wendy McEwen, Dean, Institutional Effectiveness
September 22nd, 2015
Introduction
Riverside City College’s student-athletes persist, receive degrees, and transfer to four year colleges or
universities at a higher rate than their non-student-athlete peers. Identifying the characteristics and
student experiences which help make these students more successful is providing a framework for
improving the success rates of RCC’s non-student-athlete population.
Methodology
This study looks at the population of first-time freshmen enrolling at RCC between 2010-2011 and
2013-2014. The analysis includes the use of descriptive statistics comparing characteristics of studentathlete versus non-student-athlete groups. Inferential statistics were not used as part of this study.
RCC’s student-athlete population representing 17 different athletic programs is relatively small, which
would make drawing conclusions from rigorous hypothesis testing difficult.
RCC’s student-athletes were identified as rostered on the California Community College Athletic
Association’s (CCCAA) Form 3’s. Most student-athlete and non-student-athlete demographic and
completion data was obtained using the State Community College Chancellor’s Office MIS files. RCC’s
Student Services also provided the most recent degree and certificate award data current through June
30th, 2015. Information regarding transfer colleges was obtained from the National Student
Clearinghouse current through November 9th, 2014. RCC’s Athletic Department provided projected
transfer information for the most recently-transferring student-athletes. This projected transfer
information will be verified through the National Student Clearinghouse in late Fall, 2015.
Qualitative information for student-athletes was obtained via interviews with coaches and athletic
staff. Qualitative information for non-student-athletes was obtained via interviews with faculty and
counselors.
Enrollment
Riverside City College’s first-time freshmen population includes about 5% of students who are rostered
student-athletes. During the years 2010-2011 through 2013-2014, RCC enrolled 292 female and 572
male first-time freshmen student-athletes (864 total) and 20,086 non-student-athletes.
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Whereas RCC’s general student population has a greater percentage of female students, the studentathlete population is predominantly male
Table 1: First-Time Freshmen Demograpics
(66%). Student-athletes are also younger
Athlete
Non-Athlete
than non-student-athletes. The majority of
Gender
both groups are under-represented
Female
34%
53%
minority students. However, female and
Male
66%
47%
male student-athletes have a higher
Race / Ethnicity
percentage of African Americans than nonUnder Represented
student-athletes while Hispanic student71%
77%
athletes are lower in percentage compared Minority Students*
Age
to the non-student-athlete population.
21 or Under
98%
77%
22-24
2%
8%
25-27
0%
4%
28-30
0%
2%
31-35
0%
3%
36+
0%
6%
*Includes African American, Asian, Native American,
Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and those students
identifying as Two or More races.
Table 2: Comparison of First-Time Freshmen by Race / Ethnicity
60.0%
% of Population
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
American
Indian or
Alaska
Native
Asian
Black or
African
American
Hispanic
Inter'l
Hawaiian
or Pac.
Islander
Two or
More
Unknown
White
Athlete
0.0%
2.0%
20.1%
37.2%
0.9%
2.1%
8.6%
1.2%
28.0%
Non Athlete
0.3%
5.6%
9.7%
55.3%
2.1%
0.3%
4.3%
1.1%
21.4%
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Student-Athletes by Sport
RCC’s student-athletes are a diverse population. The two tables below show the enrollment by sport
and race / ethnicity for the first-time freshmen. If a student is multi-sport, they are counted only once.
Asian
Black or African American
Hispanic
International
Hawaiian or Pac. Islander
Two or More
White
Unknown
Total
Table 3: First-Time Freshmen Female Student-Athletes by Race/Ethnicity and Sport
0
1
2
1
0
0
3
1
0
8
1
4
7
2
1
0
1
25
0
41
27
8
12
21
6
20
8
16
8
126
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
3
2
3
7
1
0
9
0
10
3
35
7
13
3
7
1
19
6
7
13
76
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
2
37
29
31
32
8
50
19
61
25
292
Sport
Softball
Volleyball
Women's Basketball
Women's Cross Country
Women's Soccer
Women's Swim & Dive
Women's Tennis
Women's Track & Field
Women's Water Polo
Total
Asian
Black or African American
Hispanic
International
Hawaiian or Pac. Islander
Two or More
Unknown
White
Grand Total
Table 4: First-Time Freshmen Male Student-Athletes by Race/Ethnicity and Sport
0
1
0
1
0
0
2
4
0
1
9
1
71
14
3
0
0
2
0
42
0
133
39
40
5
28
2
15
17
8
31
10
195
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
1
7
0
15
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
15
4
13
4
3
0
1
5
2
6
1
39
2
4
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
8
29
26
5
8
14
1
25
7
30
21
166
76
170
28
43
17
17
51
26
110
34
572
Sport
Baseball
Football
Men's Basketball
Men's Cross Country
Men's Golf
Men's Soccer
Men's Swim & Dive
Men's Tennis
Men's Track & Field
Men's Water Polo
Grand Total
Academic Preparedness and Placement
An overwhelming majority of student-athletes are motivated to succeed academically at the
community college level. Upon entering RCC, 82% of first-time freshmen student-athletes state that
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their educational goal is to obtain an associate’s degree, obtain an associate’s degree and transfer to a
four-year institution, or transfer without receiving a degree, while the percentage for non-studentathletes is 65%.
Upon initially enrolling at RCC, students are assessed using the Accuplacer system and placed in
different academic levels depending on their math and English test scores. If a student tests at collegelevel, RCC considers the student Prepared. If they test one level below college-level, the student is
considered Underprepared for math or English. If a student tests at two or more levels below collegelevel, the student is considered Unprepared.
For both math and English, RCC’s student-athletes test at a higher level of preparedness than their
non-student-athlete peers. Sixty percent (60%) of student-athletes enter RCC at the Underprepared or
Prepared level. This means that they need one year or less of math to be prepared for college-level
math compared with 38% of non-student-athletes. The preparation level for student-athletes and nonstudent-athletes for English is much closer. Table 5 contains this academic preparation level by the
three major Race / Ethnicity groups at RCC. The percentage is the percentage of each race / ethnicity
group who are prepared, underprepared, or unprepared in Math and in English.
Table 5: Math & English Placement for RCC's three major Race / Ethnicity groups
Math
English
Course Level
Athlete
Non-Athlete
Athlete
Non-Athlete
Prepared
African American
6.9%
3.5%
19.0%
15.1%
Hispanic
13.1%
5.7%
32.1%
19.7%
White
14.5%
6.9%
40.9%
29.4%
Underprepared
African American
37.4%
21.3%
20.7%
18.6%
Hispanic
48.6%
33.1%
27.4%
26.0%
White
55.8%
30.3%
30.6%
23.9%
Unprepared
African American
47.7%
55.5%
51.7%
46.2%
Hispanic
36.4%
48.9%
37.4%
41.1%
White
25.6%
41.3%
24.0%
23.6%
Student Success
Persistence
California Community Colleges have several different metric of student success. One metric is
persistence – the percentage of first-time freshmen who enroll in the two subsequent primary terms at
the same community college (fall-spring-fall for students initially enrolling in the fall or spring-fallspring for students initially enrolling in the spring). Using this persistence metric, RCC’s student-athlete
population is much more successful than the non-athlete population. Persistence is higher across all
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race/ethnicity groups except for International Students. However, RCC’s international student-athlete
population is extremely small which means one student not persisting can have a significant impact on
that statistic.
Table 6: 1st to 3rd Semester Persistence for First-Time Freshmen
100%
90%
% of Population
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
American
Indian or
Alaska
Native
Asian
Black or
African
American
Hispanic
Interna'l
Hawaiian
or Pac.
Islander
Two or
More
Unknown
White
Athlete
0.0%
82.4%
76.9%
77.3%
50.0%
61.1%
73.0%
100.0%
75.2%
Non Athlete
32.1%
43.7%
31.7%
43.1%
66.4%
41.3%
36.7%
35.8%
39.6%
Receiving a Degree and / or Transferring
Additional metrics of student success include students who receive a degree and / or transfer to a 4
year college or university. As with persistence, RCC’s student-athletes receive degrees and transfer at
a much higher rate than their non-student-athlete peers.
Table 7: Degree Completion for 2010-2011 through 2013-2014 First-Time Freshmen
Athlete
Non-Athlete
#
%
#
%
Received a Degree
132
15.3%
714
3.6%
Transferred
Transfer with Degree
Transfer with No Degree
Total First-Time Freshmen
244
94
149
864
28.2%
10.9%
17.2%
1820
143
1647
20,086
9.1%
0.7%
8.2%
The students in Table 7 have had between 2 and 5 years to receive a degree. RCC tracks and reports a
6 year degree rate, so none of the students included in this study have yet reached that 6 year rate and
many are still enrolled at RCC. Thus, the number of students from these cohorts who receive a degree
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and / or transfer will rise through the next several years. RCC’s 6 year degree or certificate completion
rate is 20%.
RCC also reviewed the types of schools to which RCC students transfer. Interestingly, RCC studentathletes transfer to out-of-state public schools at a higher rate than non-student athletes. This is
because many student-athletes are recruited to participate in NCAA sports at these out-of-state
schools.
Table 8: Transfer School Type
Athlete
CSU System
UC System
Private (in state + out of state)
Out of State Public
#
66
17
91
70
Total First-Time Freshmen
864
Non-Athlete
%
7.6%
2.0%
10.5%
8.1%
28.2% total
transferred
#
531
295
788
206
%
2.6%
1.5%
3.9%
1.0%
9.1% total
transferred
20,086
RCC also compared success rates for the three major race / ethnicity groups which make up the
majority of RCC’s student-athlete population – African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites. Compared
with the non-student-athlete populations for these same race / ethnicity groups, RCC’s studentathletes receive degrees and / or transfer at two to three times the rate of RCC’s non-student-athletes.
Table 9: Degree and Transfer Totals
Athlete
Race / Ethnicity
Black or African American
Hispanic
White
Total Population
# Students
174
321
242
864
Non-Athlete
Degree or Transfer
#
%
61
95
87
35.1%
29.6%
36.0%
# Students
1,946
11,099
4,294
20,086
Ratio
Degree or Transfer
#
%
239
1,015
678
12.3%
9.1%
15.8%
Key Discussion and Lessons Learned
In many ways, Riverside City College’s student-athlete population is comparable to its non-studentathlete population. However, student-athletes persist, receive degrees, and / or transfer to 4 year
colleges or universities at a much higher rate than their non-student-athlete peers. While studentathletes enter RCC slightly more prepared for college-level courses, the significant difference in success
rates cannot be attributed only to their academic preparedness. Therefore, other inputs and factors
that could impact student-athletes’ success must be considered.
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2.85
3.24
2.28
In addition to reviewing the descriptive statistics cited in this study, Riverside City College conducted a
qualitative analysis of student-athletes’ experiences including identifying the amount of advising,
faculty contact, and athletic staff contact student-athletes receive. The results of this analysis show
that student-athletes are much more likely to be actively engaged with faculty, administrators,
coaches, and staff as a result of participating in athletics. RCC believes that this additional attention
and guidance is having a positive impact on student success.
Student-athletes meet with their coaches at least 5 times per week. In addition to athletic preparation,
coaches actively monitor students’ academic progress including monthly grade checks. Some teams
also have mandatory study halls. If academic problems are identified, the student-athletes receive
strong encouragement to seek academic tutoring and other assistance. Often, coaches will speak with
faculty to help identify areas of concern to better help student-athletes succeed academically.
In addition, RCC’s coaches and its educational advisor are actively engaged in identifying,
understanding, and advising student-athletes on California Community College Athletic Association
(CCCAA) requirements as well as National College Athletic Association (NCAA) transfer requirements.
The coaches’ and educational advisor’s understanding of these complex requirements provide
additional support and guidance to student-athletes who are trying to transfer to a 4 year college or
university. The athletic educational advisor hosts an Academic Success forum once a year. The
educational advisor also conducts team and individual sessions coaching the students on academic as
well as athletic transfer requirements. Many students meet with the educational advisor multiple
times during the year helping ensure that they are on track to succeed and transfer.
One result of the qualitative analysis of student-athlete engagement activities is that RCC is proposing
adding a full-time academic success coordinator to increase the amount of support the department
can provide to their student-athletes. In coordination with Counseling, Student Services, and faculty,
this position will provide leadership in orientation, assessment, academic advising, tutorial services,
athletic eligibility, and other student-athlete academic success activities.
Comparatively, non-student-athletes are less likely to meet with counselors or educational advisors or
be engaged in other co-curricular activities.
Riverside City College believes that the additional student engagement opportunities offered to
student-athletes are having a significant, positive impact on student success. RCC is incorporating
many of these lessons learned into our integrated Pathways model with the goal of increasing the
success of non-student-athletes.
Conclusion
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