As the cost of living continues to increase over time, many Americans are placing greater scrutiny on the financial choices they make. An area for such evaluation is if the outcomes of going to college continue to be worth the cost. One underrepresented group, first-generation college students (FGCS), is less likely than non-FGCS to attend and…

Studying abroad acts as investment in human capital and ideally outweighs associated investment costs due to higher earnings or related non-monetary benefits. We estimate monetary returns to studying abroad for female graduates 1 and 5 years after graduation. The empirical estimates--based on panel data from four graduate cohorts in 1997, 2001,…

A growing number of states use performance-based funding (PBF) systems to tie appropriations to student outcomes. Yet while many studies have examined the effects of PBF on enrollment and completion outcomes, no research has considered whether PBF affects post-college outcomes. This is of particular importance as more states directly incentivize…

Fluctuations in U.S. college football team performance have been shown to have impacts on the student experience. This study explores the long-run implications, examining the impact of college football team performance relative to the period of student attendance on future earnings. Better college football team performance during the early years…

Graduate education is among the fastest growing segments of the U.S. higher educational system. This paper estimates the returns to Master's degrees and examines heterogeneity in the returns by field area, student demographics and initial labor market conditions. We use rich administrative data from Ohio and an individual fixed effects model that…

This dissertation studies the effect of higher education costs on students' outcomes in the labor market, particularly when credit constraints are absent. It utilizes the UK's institutional setting to identify such an effect. The key findings are as follows. (i) Increasing tuition fees does not have adverse effects on students as long as credit…

International research suggests that increasing numbers of autistic people are entering higher education. Currently, very little is known about this population. For example, the rates of autistic people enrolling at UK-based higher education institutions, the demographics of this population, the subjects they study and particularly their graduate…

The lack of enough nurse faculty is a primary cause of the insufficient RN workforce. Without addressing the faculty shortage, the number of future nurses will continue to fall short, negatively impacting the quality of care. This study aimed to evaluate the individual nurse's actual and perceived return on investment for the transition from a…

Indonesia has prioritized upper secondary vocational education since 2006. This study examines the labour market outcomes of upper secondary vocational education in terms of decent work (DW), using Indonesian Family Life Survey data and a research framework that links DW into the broader labour economics of the school to work transition. We…

Background: Despite the significant relationship between life satisfaction and education, less is known about the connection between life satisfaction and informal learning in the context of training and apprenticeship programs. This paper examines the influence of the LaunchCode program, a novel training and apprentice program in STEM, on…

The aim of this study is to analyse the differences in employability among Spanish graduates from public or private universities. Private and public universities do not usually have the same profile. In a scenario in which private universities are becoming increasingly important, with mainly high-income students, a greater employability of their…

Background: Engineering curricula are built around faculty and accreditors' perceptions of what knowledge, skills, and abilities graduates will need in engineering careers. However, the people making these decisions may not be fully aware of what industry employers require for engineering graduates. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study is…

Research examining students' socioeconomic outcomes after attaining a bachelor's degree tends to use single measures such as income or occupation (Thomas & Zhang, 2005; Torche, 2015). Yet, socioeconomic status is more complex than single measures. To capture that complexity, this study draws data from the National Center for Education…

The purpose of this quantitative study is to test the relationship between degree choice and post-graduate outcomes for students in the United States by describing the relationship between a selected major and post-graduate outcomes including employment sector, salary for women and men. As college costs rise, and enrollments fall for the first…

I use rich administrative data and several quasi-experiments in Texas to study which students benefit most from college grant aid and why. For "extensive-margin" students, grant aid causes enrollment in college, and therefore has potentially large benefits relative to these students' no-college counterfactual. In contrast,…