Studying abroad acts as investment in human capital and ideally outweighs associated investment costs due to higher earnings or related non-monetary benefits. We estimate monetary returns to studying abroad for female graduates 1 and 5 years after graduation. The empirical estimates--based on panel data from four graduate cohorts in 1997, 2001,…

While the direct impacts of minimum wage changes on employment have received considerable attention, these policy changes have the potential to impact skill attainment by changing the opportunity cost of college enrollment. Using institutional data on college enrollment and program completion, we find that enrollment falls markedly among students…

This current dissertation used case study (Yin, 2018) to examine United States female college students' perceptions of their financial literacy, especially with respect to their debt accumulation and the gender wage gap, at a public, 4-year institution in New Jersey. It answered the following research questions: How are student debt, financial…

The National Secretary for Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation in Ecuador (locally SENESCYT) started an ambitious grants program in 2011. The main objective of the program was to send Ecuadorian students to undertake postgraduate studies at universities overseas. This article evaluates the impact of this grant policy on the labor…

Policymakers are interested in extending federal higher education dollars to programs fewer than 15 weeks. This analysis shares key facts about the outcomes and equity implications of very-short-term (15 weeks or fewer) programs. This analysis of nationally representative survey data from the Adult Training and Education Survey, combined with…

Card and Krueger (1992a,b) used labor market outcomes to study the productivity of school spending. Following their lead, we examine effects of post-1990 school finance reforms on students' educational attainment and labor market outcomes. Using a state-by-cohort panel design, we find that reforms increased high school completion and…

The United States government recently enacted a number of policies designed to increase the number of American born students graduating with degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), especially among women and racial and ethnic minorities. This study examines how the earnings benefits of choosing a STEM major vary both by…

It has been noted that the payoffs of schooling on salary is more for women than for men, though females are inclined to earn less in the United states. The causes of this effect are investigated using information from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

A large proportion of the gender wage gap is usually left unexplained. In this paper, we investigate whether the unexplained component is due to misspecification. Using a sample of recent UK graduates, we introduce variables on career expectations and character traits, variables that are typically not observed. The evidence indicates that women…

A study examined the role of worker-specific skills, occupational skill requirements, and job working conditions on the part-time/full-time wage differential. Analysis of research found that part-time employment was concentrated among jobs requiring a lower skill level and that measurable personal and location characteristics accounted for a large…

This report provides statistical information about the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering education and employment. Its primary purpose is to serve as an information source. It offers no endorsement of or recommendations about policies or programs. National Science Foundation reporting on…

Overall, college graduates' earnings increased compared to high school graduates' in the 1980s. For men, skills acquired before college had not effect on the increase; for women, returns to math ability rose considerably. For men, the trend away from such subjects as education and toward engineering accounted for one-fourth of the rise in relative…

Over the past 30 years, there has been significant progress in the educational advancement of women in the United States and New England. Nationally, the percentage of adult women with four-year college degrees increased from 8 percent in 1970 to 24 percent in 2000. Women narrowed the gap with men in college completion, as the female-to-male ratio…

A study was conducted of a representative sample of 5,467 adult Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) participants who exited the program between July 1, 1985, and June 30, 1986 to determine the occupations in which male and female participants were trained and subsequently placed. Job skill level was classified as higher, moderate, or lower-level…

Women making career choices need to know what women want and get from their jobs to form realistic expectations and prevent disappointment. Intrinsic job facets (internal characteristics such as challenge and autonomy) and extrinsic facets (external characteristics such as pleasant coworkers, promotion, and pay) are described. (MLW)