40 likes | 123 Views
PANEL IV: Postsecondary Attainment and Earnings. Just the Facts, Ma’am: Postsecondary Education and Labor Market Outcomes in the U.S .” Harry Holzer , Georgetown University & American Institutes for Research/ CALDER Erin Dunlop, American Institutes for Research / CALDER
E N D
PANEL IV: Postsecondary Attainment and Earnings Just the Facts, Ma’am: Postsecondary Education and Labor Market Outcomes in the U.S.” Harry Holzer, Georgetown University & American Institutes for Research/ CALDER Erin Dunlop, American Institutes for Research / CALDER “Heterogeneous Paths Through College: Detailed Patterns and Relationships with Graduation and Earnings” Rodney J. Andrews, University of Texas at Dallas/CALDER Jing Li, University of Tulsa Michael F. Lovenheim, Cornell University
Postsecondary Attainment and Earnings: General Thoughts • H&D provide a reminder of just how dim the employment prospects are for those who fail to get a college degree, and Andrews et al. show that the path to college completion can also be quite important (more important than I would have guessed) • Value of different sources of data; national data illustrates long-term trends, state longitudinal data allows for more in-depth exploration over shorter time-span • Connecting the two papers: could the seemingly strange finding of math score on AA attainment (Holzer and Dunlop) be related to transfer behavior? • Both studies careful not to over-interpret findings • Generally great, but a bit more storyline (expectations) would also be helpful
Holzer and Dunlop • We are used to thinking that U.S. progress on education has stalled, but this isn’t really true for attainment • Huge progress for African Americans and Hispanics in reduction of dropout rates and increase in BA (larger % increase over time for Blacks than whites in BA attainment) • Specification: Does it matter if race/gender is interacted with measures of proficiency in earnings models? • Why is the GED becoming less popular? • Is it really? (some of the SIPP results jump around) • Are employers reading Heckman? • Understanding “Other” major; doubling from 1990 to 2001 • Is it the case that there is a proliferation of new college majors? • Is this good or bad?
Andrews, Li, & Lovenheim • 32% of students transfer at least once (and this is conservative)! • Not just expected types • More explanation for transfer behavior • Any way to simplify, transferring up or down? • Some type of model: is it about the fit? • Change in major/credit areas? Distance from home? • Arguably most interesting type of transfer is from 4YC (flagship in particular) to CC • Might also look at AA attainment • Worth noting how CC transfers grads do relative to CC grads • Lots of potentially interesting work on human capital acquisition looking at timing of transfers/credit accumulation at different types of institutions