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,…

As the cost of higher education has continued to rise, public interest in the proportional economic return on investment in higher education has also grown. While research associating the quality of education and institutional attributes with graduate earning potentials exists in the university sector, fewer studies have focused on earning…

This dissertation examined if community college governing board structure and trustee selection influence institutional and student outcomes. This study employed a causal-comparative design and one-way between subjects ANOVA to examine the effects of board structure and trustee selection on the average cost of attendance, graduation rate, and…

Numerous studies have investigated the consequences of vertical transfer on students' higher education outcomes in comparison to "native 4-year students"--those who went straight from high school into a bachelor's program. However, the long-term labor market outcomes for vertical transfer students are understudied. Using…

Level of postsecondary schooling and field of study remain significant markers of social stratification. However, the extent to which these various types of postsecondary schooling influence the labor market outcomes of recent male and female graduates is unknown. Drawing on data from Statistics Canada's 2013 National Graduates Survey, we examine…

Iowa's Community Colleges create a significant positive impact on the business community and generate a return on investment to their major stakeholder groups--students, taxpayers, and society. Using a two-pronged approach that involves an economic impact analysis and an investment analysis, this study calculates the benefits to each of these…

This document includes seven technical appendices that accompany the main report, "Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant Program: Round 4 Early Outcomes Study Report." The appendices include: (1) Baseline Data; (2) Follow-up Survey Data; (3) Unemployment Insurance Wage Data; (4) Service Impacts; (5)…

The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program provided grants to community colleges and other eligible institutions of higher education to expand and improve their ability to deliver education and career training programs. Grant-funded colleges served workers who were eligible for training under the Trade…

This is the executive summary for the full report, "The Economic Value of the Maricopa County Community College District. Main Report." The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) creates value in many ways. The colleges play a key role in helping students increase their employability and achieve their individual potential.…

Career education programs in California's community colleges are a critical component of public higher education in the state. Also known as career technical or vocational programs, career education trains individuals for middle-skill jobs that require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree. These jobs make up a third of…

More than 4 decades of research on community colleges has indicated that students who begin in these institutions realize lower levels of educational attainment than initial 4-year entrants. In terms of labor market outcomes, studies have overwhelmingly focused on comparing 2-year entrants to high school graduates who did not attend college. In…

The purpose of this study is to answer key questions about the structure of certificates and their function in employability and degree attainment in the Washington State Community and Technical College (CTC) System. Specifically, this study addresses the following: (1) Do certificates play a role in helping students progress along career pathways…

Policymakers have become increasingly concerned with measuring--and holding colleges accountable for--students' labor market outcomes. In this article we introduce a piecewise growth curve approach to analyzing community college students' labor market outcomes, and we discuss how this approach differs from two popular econometric approaches:…

This study assesses the human capital development and wage performance of low-income students from geographically isolated and substandard housing settlements known as colonias. The research follows Texas high school students from the classroom to employment over a span of two decades and, specifically, tracks the three border regions where most…

The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), established in 1920, has grown to serve 191,073 credit and 24,497 non-credit students. This report assesses the impact of MCCCD as a whole on the county economy and the benefits generated by the colleges for students, taxpayers, and society. The approach is twofold. It begins with an economic…