Noncredit training at community colleges linked to earnings gains

(Press-News.org) Washington, November 18, 2025—Students who enroll in short-term, job-focused training through community college noncredit programs experience modest but meaningful earnings gains and a greater likelihood of being employed after training, according to a new study published today in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association.

The study, conducted by Peter Riley Bahr of the Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Rooney Columbus of E&E Analytics, finds that workers earn about $2,000 more per year, on average, within two years of completing training—an increase of more than 4 percent after adjusting for inflation. By that point, individuals who completed training are also nearly 4 percentage points more likely to be employed than their peers without training. When the analysis also accounts for people who were unemployed before training but found jobs afterward, the average earnings increase rises to almost $4,000 per year, reflecting the combined effects of training on both wages and the likelihood of being employed.

Video: Co-author Peter Riley Bahr discusses the findings and implications of the study

Each year, millions of community college students enroll in noncredit workforce training programs. The number of these programs may grow substantially in the next few years following the expansion of Pell Grant eligibility this past July to include short-term training.

Bahr and Columbus offer the first comprehensive, statewide estimates of earnings gains from noncredit occupational training. They analyzed administrative data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Workforce Commission, including more than 128,000 students—mostly adult learners—who enrolled in noncredit occupational courses at public two-year colleges in Texas between fall 2011 and fall 2014. Bahr and Columbus followed the employment and earnings of these students for five years before and after training to understand how the training altered their labor market trajectories.

“Whether noncredit occupation training pays off for students has been an open question for some time,” said Bahr, who is vice president of employer alignment at Strada Education Foundation and managing research director of the Strada Institute for the Future of Work. “We find that earnings gains are quite robust in some fields.”

Gains differ significantly based both on characteristics of the training and on the gender of the students. Students who enroll in longer programs, specifically those exceeding 150 hours, tend to experience the highest earnings gains.

Students in transportation-focused programs, such as those in commercial driving, see above-average earnings gains. Students in engineering technology programs, such as occupational safety and health or petroleum technology, also experience strong returns, as do students in construction training, like power transmission installation or plumbing technology. Longer training programs of 300 hours or more in nursing and protective services are similarly associated with above-average earnings gains.

In contrast, business and information sciences programs show little to no earnings gains, regardless of the length of training. However, the authors caution against interpreting this as evidence that such programs lack value in the labor market. Some noncredit training is designed to help individuals meet certification or licensing requirements to maintain current employment and, as a result, may not boost wages directly.

“We have to be careful about claims that noncredit occupational training in a given field does not pay off for students simply because the students see little or no wage gains after the training,” said Bahr. “Some noncredit programs help individuals complete ongoing training necessary to keep their jobs, and we generally would not expect to see earnings gains for those types of programs.”

The study also reveals important gender-based differences. Men experience similar earnings gains whether they enroll in training programs sponsored by an employer or open-enrollment programs that students pay for themselves. For women, however, employer-sponsored programs are associated with significantly higher average gains than open-enrollment options.

“Average gains for women are a fraction of the gains for men, and the gap doesn’t appear to be entirely a result of difference in the fields of study that men and women tend to choose,” Bahr said. “There seem to be distinct gender dynamics at play in noncredit training and related workforce opportunities, which need to be investigated more closely.” 

The authors also found that gains are more pronounced among students who changed jobs around the time of their training, suggesting that the timing and context of enrollment may influence outcomes.  

“More research is needed to understand what drives students to enroll in noncredit training, why they choose noncredit training over similar credit programs, the extent of alignment between training and employment opportunities across fields of study, and how these dynamics shape wage outcomes,” said Bahr.

While noncredit programs typically require only modest time investments, and many students remain employed while enrolled, the authors emphasize that prospective students should seek detailed information from colleges about both the costs of enrolling and the payoff that students can expect in terms of employment opportunities and wage growth. The costs of noncredit programs in tuition and fees can vary widely across institutions and fields of study.

The article, “Labor Market Returns to Community College Noncredit Occupational Education,” appears online in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

###

About AERA
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. Founded in 1916, AERA advances knowledge about education, encourages scholarly inquiry related to education, and promotes the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. Find AERA on  Bluesky, LinkedIn,  Facebook, Instagram,  X,  and Threads.

END