This dissertation consists of three essays on adolescents' post secondary education choices and labor market returns. The first chapter analyzes returns to selectivity of four-year colleges by different post-bachelor's degree schooling paths. The second chapter documents the role of family income in college application and enrollment…

This study investigated the relationship between student characteristics such as gender, race/ethnicity, program of study, degree completion, and earnings outcomes for students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs within the business, information technology (IT), and marketing career clusters in community colleges to determine…

Gaps in faculty pay between private and public colleges and universities continue to widen, warned the American Association of University Professors in its annual report on the economic status of the profession. It is a divide, the group argues, that threatens the ability of public institutions to recruit and retain faculty members at all levels.…

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. With a duration of eighteen months, this recession was almost double the length of the average post-World War II economic downturn. Although the worst recession since the Great Depression is now technically over, this analysis…

The NEAIR (North East Association for Institutional Research) 2012 Conference Proceedings is a compilation of papers presented at the Bethesda, Maryland conference. Papers in this document include: (1) Can a Marketing Campaign Increase Response Rates to Online Course Evaluations? (Kimberly Puhala); (2) Developing Community College Peer…

The growing use of part-time, non-tenure track faculty in higher education has become a nationwide phenomenon. The college-teaching part-time instructor is one who is working for low pay, has little job security, and has few benefits. College part-time instructors' employment is in a contingent state. They do not have the job protection provided…

Institutions of higher education have been gradually employing more part-time faculty over the past several decades. Walsh estimates that part-time faculty employment across all types of institutions increased 79 percent from 1981 to 1999. The growth of part-time faculty at community colleges is equally astounding. It is now estimated that 67…

This paper reports estimates of the distribution of individual private rates of return to undergraduate and community college education by field of study for Canada. It is important to know the dispersion of the private rate of return to post-secondary education, as well as its average level. There are very different implications for…

This paper estimates the returns to retraining for older displaced workers--those 35 or older--by estimating the impact that community college schooling has on their subsequent earnings. Our analysis relies on longitudinal administrative data covering workers who were displaced from jobs in Washington State during the first half of the 1990s and…