As of 2022, one third of college students in the United States are first-generation students (FGCS), with a significant number pursuing engineering degrees. This research focused on understanding and addressing the unique challenges and needs of FGCS in engineering, emphasizing the importance of career and professional development. FGCS often face…

This dissertation contains three chapters related to the study of how business cycles create real and persistent effects on economic agents. Chapter 1 focuses on young individuals' careers and college decisions; Chapter 2 on firms' firing and hiring asymmetric decisions and Chapter 3 on firms' sourcing strategies. In Chapter 1 "Strategic or…

Over the past 30 years, a shift occurred in higher education that saw more of the burden for paying for postsecondary education placed on students. Combined with rising tuition and fees, this has led students to take on increasing amounts of student debt. Despite the historic rise in student loans, surprisingly little attention has focused on…

The purpose of this interpretive case study was to investigate how several community colleges work with local industry partners to create market alignment and uncover the social outcomes within their communities. Most studies within labor market alignment focus on the economic outcomes, but this study sought to review the social outcomes. This…

This dissertation studies the labor market outcomes of college graduates. The choice of college major is one of the most direct ways for college graduates to acquire skills and earnings differences between college majors rival those between high school and college graduates. In each chapter, I combine rigorous descriptive analysis methods with…

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…

Lack of university funding and support of experiential learning programs reduces opportunities for meaningful employment for culturally diverse students. Economic conditions foster a university's ability to fund experiential programs, and lack of funding places experiential learning programs (ELPs) at risk of being cut, impacting student…

There is a widening gap between traditional higher education and the needs of the industry workforce. Higher education has lately been criticized for having too few voices playing a role in most curricula development, with the voices being used consisting largely of career academics (Nature Editorial, 2023). Both industry and academia have found a…

Student success is a movement mobilizing various community college stakeholders to make policy and institutional change. More recently, researchers, policy leaders, and other community college stakeholders suggest expanding definitions of student success to include community college student post-graduate labor market outcomes, as community college…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the root cause of the increased rate of employee turnover at a higher educational institution and how to retain their current employees. The importance of this study was to help the educational institution reduce their employee turnover so they do not continue to struggle to find new talent to replace…

This descriptive/transcendental phenomenological design aimed to understand how working college graduates perceived their college experience, their transition from school to work for workforce integration, and their career alignment to gainful employment. The intended sample was ten working college graduates with bachelor's degrees. However, due…

This study examined higher education workforce development practitioners' views on incorporating innovation ecosystems into workforce models to address U.S. workforce pipeline gaps and evolving labor market needs. While current programs have some success, they often fail to prepare graduates with knowledge and specific skills for rapid entry into…

This study used an in-depth qualitative multi-interview approach to explore the lived experience of associate in applied science (AAS) students at a community college in North Carolina. The purpose of this study is to explore the aspirations of community college students enrolled in career focused AAS programs to understand their stated goals, the…

Academic choice and exploration are essential aspects of undergraduate education in the United States, allowing students to select courses with minimal restrictions. However, students often face challenges in navigating the complex academic landscape, hindered by limited information, insufficient guidance, and an overwhelming number of choices.…

This dissertation includes three essays on the economics of higher education. In the first chapter, I study the effects of college transfer. Over one-third of college students in the United States transfer between institutions, yet little is known about how transferring affect students' educational and labor market outcomes. Using administrative…