Many higher education institutions award credentials below the associate's degree level, yet little is known about the pecuniary returns to sub-baccalaureate awards like diplomas (for the culmination of a program of study lasting one to two years) and certificates (for the successful completion of portions of those programs, often within one or…

Community colleges are under pressure these days to produce graduates who can land jobs. But identifying which occupations and skills are in demand is often easier said than done. LaGuardia, a City University of New York campus in Long Island City, is one of 10 community colleges across six states experimenting with software that collects…

The study introduced a very important issue for the development of labor market in any developing country. The rapid changes in technology and communication imposed challenges on education institutions for the development of labor market to meet local communities. These institutions have more responsibilities to provide professional and skilled…

Overall, too few students are completing two-year college. Those who complete are still starting off unequally. About one-third of students earning academic degrees do not transfer, but rather go directly to work and find their degree has little value in the labor market. Research suggests they could have benefitted from having marketable skills…

In this brief, we summarize our research on the wage returns to community college pathways in North Carolina. We use detailed individual and college transcript information on approximately 830,000 students who attended community college during the 2000s. This transcript data is matched with earnings data from Unemployment Insurance records. We…

This study examines the labor market gains for students who enrolled at for-profit colleges after beginning their post-secondary education in community college. We use student-level administrative record data from college transcripts, Unemployment Insurance earnings data, and progression data from the National Student Clearinghouse across full…

Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms…

A lengthy literature estimating the returns to education has largely ignored the for-profit sector. In this paper, we offer some of the first causal estimates of the earnings gains to for-profit colleges. We rely on restricted-use data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) to implement an individual fixed effects estimation…

While promoting postsecondary credential completion is a national priority intended to help graduates secure good jobs, the value of credentials in the labor market from the perspective of employers is not well understood. Specifically, more attention is needed to understand how credentials align with employer needs. Through in-depth interviews…

Washington's community and technical colleges are a collective, powerful, unmatched resource for advancing prosperity through education. These 34 colleges not only connect with employers in the regions where they operate, but also with each other through common programs--like advanced manufacturing and allied health--that align with Washington's…

In this article, we explore the functions of the traditional community college and its expanding mission in regard to its responsiveness to changing economic conditions and workforce development needs. To date, few researchers have specifically addressed market responsiveness in community college settings across the United States. In addition, we…

Postsecondary education and credentials are key to economic mobility for individuals and economic competitiveness for our nation. Although the economic return to credentials varies significantly by field of study, generally workers with higher levels of education have higher wages, work more hours, and suffer lower rates and shorter durations of…

The extent to which community college students experience labor market success depends on both the attributes of the individual students and the characteristics of the community colleges they attend. In this paper, we examine the impact of community college characteristics on the earnings of first-time college students who enrolled in the North…

As health care providers, patients, and employers adjust to the changes related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which promises to extend medical coverage to thirty million previously uninsured Americans, community colleges are gearing up to keep pace with rising economic and societal demands for medical and allied health…

Community colleges are becoming the primary access point for a growing number of underrepresented and underserved students in the higher education system. First-generation college students make up a large proportion of this population, comprising about 45% of community college attendees (Nomi, 2005). Research has explored the transfer success of…