Role of illegal drug use in community college completion

The Obama administration has prioritized increasing community college completion rates because currently only 20% of community college students earn a degree. The role of substance use in community college degree completion is poorly understood because major longitudinal studies focus on 4 year college students. This study compares the substance use behaviors of students at 2 and 4 year colleges and identifies substance use factors among community college students that predict having not earned a post-secondary degree within 7 years. This study uses waves 3 and 4 of Add Health to study students at 2 and 4 year colleges (n=5042.) Preliminary analysis used separate survey-weighted logistic regressions for each substance use measure, adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, Peabody vocabulary test score, mother's education level, and full-time school status. Subsequent analysis will use matched sampling methods including coarsened exact and propensity score matching. Compared with 4 year college students, community college students were more likely in the past year to have used marijuana (OR 1.3 (1.0, 1.6)), cocaine (OR 1.8 (1.3, 2.5)), methamphetamines (OR 4.9 (2.3, 10.4)), and to have been in alcohol or drug treatment (OR 2.5 (1.4, 4.3)). Seven years later, 53% of community college students earned a degree. In separate multivariate regressions, wave 3 methamphetamine use (OR 0.4 (0.2, 0.8)) was the only significant predictor of not earning a degree within 7 years. Community college students have more illegal drug use than 4 year students. Methamphetamines may inhibit degree completion more than other drugs.