Several studies have considered whether American college students' hold "realistic" wage expectations. The consensus is that they do not--overestimation of future earnings is in the region of 40-50%. But is it just college students who overestimate the success they will have in the labor market, or is this something common to all…

International students represent a large percentage of the student population in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs at American colleges and universities. Although graduates of these programs are identified as having high employability, productivity, and earnings in the 21st-century job market, there is limited…

Using two representative samples of some 74,000 students and 11,000 graduates, respectively, we analyse the accuracy of students' wage expectations given their individual characteristics. We find that students are aware of the effects of most of their own characteristics, as a large number of determinants of expected and realised salaries do not…

We find statistically significant relationships between changes in wages by occupation and subsequent changes in college majors completed in associated fields. College majors (defined at a detailed level) are most strongly related to wages observed three years earlier, when students were college freshmen. The responses to wages vary depending on…

This third installment of "Hard Times" updates the previous analyses of college majors, unemployment, and earnings over the Great Recession. While there is wide variation by college majors, hard times have become better times for most college graduates, but the recovery is far from complete. Hard times are becoming better times for most…

Gender equity in education has certainly improved since the 1960s, when women faced barriers such as quotas limiting their numbers. Indeed, in recent years, women have surpassed men in their persistence and success as college students: They now receive about 60 percent of bachelor's degrees. But even though women now have full access to education,…

Young female adults with disabilities are at risk for difficult lives. The transition from high school to post-secondary education is fraught with difficulties for disabled persons and research indicates they do not fare as well as their non-disabled peers (Wagner, 1992; Wagner, Newman, Cameto & Levine, 2005). In addition, gender disparities…

A substantive amount of research has been conducted on how work influences persistence and completion, for those who decide to leave we know little about where they go to work and how much they earn. The purpose of this study was to explore the work behaviors of a cohort of students who began their postsecondary experience at a community college…

Partly as a consequence of the substantial increase in the college wage premium since 1980, a much higher fraction of high school graduates enter college today than they did a quarter century ago. However, the rise in the fraction of high school graduates attending college has not been met by a proportional increase in the fraction who finish.…

This assessment of the outcomes of increased access to postsecondary education for hearing-impaired students focuses on attrition levels and earnings levels. To analyze attrition from postsecondary programs serving the deaf, information from 95 programs was gathered. Using an algorithm to estimate cohort survival rates and taking into account…

The status of academic women is compared with that of men to determine whether disciminating practices and resulting inequality for women continue to exist. Current scientific periodicals, monographs, and books were searched, and the most recent statistics are presented. Results are discussed in terms of admissions, enrollment and degrees earned,…

This compendium provides a guide to data collections in higher education focusing on sources that are national in scope, and updated and made available on a regular or periodic basis including surveys, data bases, reports, and statistical digests. These sources are divided into nine broad categories, each category contains separate entries for…

Results of a survey on compensation for a student staff in the residence halls of Mid-Atlantic Association of College and University Housing Officers' (MACUHO) member institutions are reported. The responses from 71 percent of MACUHO members indicate a wide variety in types of compensation. While room and/or board continues to be the most…

The wages and benefits of students enrolled in college-level cooperative education programs throughout the Midwest are compared in this report. It describes the survey process, in which 119 college cooperative education program directors received 3,890 survey questionnaires and accompanying materials to forward to employers they had selected to…

The Secondary School Graduate Follow-Up Program for the Deaf gathered information from deaf high-school graduates of five classes (1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1982). The majority of the 273 respondents, who responded repeatedly to surveying from 1981 to 1985, were between ages 20 and 25. The study sought to examine trends in the educational and…