In response to the well documented divisiveness throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, faculty members at one university developed a "teach-in" to help students identify and respond to the resulting difficult communications in positive ways. This was accomplished through planned activities implementing micro/macro theories and…

This issue of "DataPoints" shows how median earnings for individuals with associate degrees in STEM are $60,000 and $48,000 for individuals with a certificate in STEM, compared to $53,000 for bachelor's-degree earners in humanities and $46,000 for a bachelor's degree in education.

Early Learning Indiana is a statewide nonprofit that advocates for early childhood education (ECE) services in Indiana. Their work includes operating and connecting families to high-quality child care centers, strengthening and supporting the ECE workforce, and advocating for expanded access to ECE services for families across Indiana.…

The debate on the quality of services has continued since the establishment of related legislation, and more recently, the implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA; Sect. 412, 2014). Prior studies revealed that rehabilitation counselors with a master's degrees achieve significantly better outcomes than their…

Technology, industry, and vocation are changing. Today's jobs require enhanced skill sets and higher levels of education (Carnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2010; Castells 2010; Hanushek, Woessmann, Brewer, & McEwan, 2010; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2016). Indeed, the jobs and careers of tomorrow are quickly turning…

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument that can be used to identify factors that influence the success of vertical transfer students in agricultural education. The specific objectives of this study were: identify perceived factors that influence the bachelor's degree attainment of vertical transfer students in agricultural…

Community and technical colleges in Washington state were early adopters in the growing trend to offer bachelor's degrees, actively expanding these degrees over the last 15 years. This study describes the evolving state policy landscape on community college baccalaureate (CCB) degrees in Washington in certain programs previously classified as…

This summary report presents selected findings from the full report which describes the experiences of 2015-16 bachelor's degree earners during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 4 years after graduation. The findings in this report are based on data from the 2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:16/20), which took place…

This dissertation focuses on microeconomic topics in the fields of public, labor and education. Particularly, this dissertation evaluates state policies in higher education and develops a global measure for job quality. Chapter 1 studies how state merit aid programs affect undergraduate degrees earned in Science, Technology, Engineering and…

Traditionally colleges have relied on standalone non-credit-bearing developmental education (DE) to support students academically and ensure readiness for college-level courses. As emerging evidence has raised concerns about the effectiveness of DE courses, colleges and states have been experimenting with approaches that place students into…

Guided by the student engagement frameworks, this study sought to identify high-impact practices that show significant relationship with the baccalaureate degree attainment in STEM among vertical transfer students. Our study employed data drawn from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (or ELS, 2002). The sample includes 681 students who…

Parent PLUS loans are a growing concern due to their limited income-driven repayment protections and their potential to maintain longstanding racial wealth gaps. Previous research has examined factors associated with student debt burdens of college graduates, but no research has examined factors related to parent borrowing for college. In this…

Traditionally colleges have relied on standalone non-credit-bearing developmental education (DE) to support students academically and ensure readiness for college-level courses. As emerging evidence has raised concerns about the effectiveness of DE courses, colleges and states have been experimenting with approaches that place students into…

Purpose: As young people are seeking degrees that will help them with employment and as universities seek ways to increase enrollment and retention, the emphasis of the value of higher education has emerged as an important aspect in achieving these goals. The focus of this particular study, where a paucity currently exists, was to examine the…

We introduce a new approach to measuring the match between education and occupation by using the number of college courses related to one's occupation. Previous studies have only considered the match between college 'major' and occupation. That approach ignores the content of education and the courses taken in college. We find that taking courses…