Despite the very extensive literature on dropout from higher education, much remains unknown about the nature of the dropout process. In large measure, the failure of past research to delineate more clearly the multiple characteristics of dropout can be traced to two major shortcomings; namely, inadequate attention given to questions of definition and to the development of theoretical models that seek to explain, not simply to describe, the processes that bring individuals to leave institutions of higher education.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1170024.pdf

Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research

Table 1 Correlations between institutional mean scores of NSSE clusters of effective educational practices and institutional graduation rates (N=680 4-year colleges and universities) .

https://nces.ed.gov/npec/pdf/Kuh_Team_Report.pdf

What Matters to Student Success: A Review of the Literature

In CPS data, the 20% of the civilian labor force with 1-3 years of college earn 15% more than high school graduates. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of1972 which includes postsecondary transcript data and the NLSY to study the distinct returns to 2-year and 4-year college attendance and degree completion. Controlling for background and measured ability, wage differentials for both 2-year and 4-year college credits are positive and similar. We find that the average 2-year and 4-year college student earned roughly 5% more than high school graduates for every year of credits completed. Second, average bachelor and associate degree recipients did not earn significantly more than those with similar numbers of college credits and no degree, suggesting that the credentialing effects of these degrees are small. We report similar results from the NLSY and the CPS. We also pursue two IV strategies to identify measurement error and selection bias. First, we use self-reported education as an instrument for transcript reported education. Second, we use public tuition and distance from the closest 2-year and 4-year colleges as instruments, which we take as orthogonal to schooling measurement error and other unobserved characteristics of college students. We find that in our data the two biases roughly cancel each other, suggesting that the results above are, if anything, understated.

/pdf/labor-market-returns-to-two-and-four-year-colleges-is-a-awfmj5p9ad.pdf

Labor Market Returns to Two- and Four-Year Colleges: Is a Credit a Credit and Do Degrees Matter?

This paper reports trends in educational assortative marriage from 1940 to 2003 in the United States. Analyses of census and Current Population Survey data show that educational homogamy decreased from 1940 to 1960 but increased from 1960 to 2003. From 1960 to the early 1970s, increases in educational homogamy were generated by decreasing intermarriage among groups of relatively well-educated persons. College graduates, in particular, were increasingly likely to marry each other rather than those with less education. Beginning in the early 1970s, however, continued increases in the odds of educational homogamy were generated by decreases in intermarriage at both ends of the education distribution. Most striking is the decline in the odds that those with very low levels of education marry up. Intermarriage between college graduates and those with “some college” continued to decline but at a more gradual pace. As intermarriage declined at the extremes of the education distribution, intermarriage among those in the middle portion of the distribution increased. These trends, which are similar for a broad cross section of married couples and for newlyweds, are consistent with a growing social divide between those with very low levels of education and those with more education in the United States.

Trends in Educational Assortative Marriage From 1940 to 2003

This paper reports trends in educational assortative marriage from 1940 to 2003 in the U.S. Analyses of Census and Current Population Survey data show that educational homogamy increased over most of this period, although there is some evidence of stabilization in the 1990s. From 1940 to the early-1970s, these increases were generated by decreasing intermarriage among groups of relatively well educated persons. Beginning in the early-1970s, the odds of intermarriage among the highly educated stabilized while the odds that high school dropouts marry up dropped substantially. These trends are similar for a broad cross-section of married couples and for newlyweds.

/pdf/trends-in-educational-assortative-marriage-from-1940-to-2003-2x4odsxvpk.pdf

Trends in Educational Assortative Marriage From 1940 to 2003 - eScholarship

Preface v The Authors xv 1. Background: Evolving Priorities and Expectations of the Community College 1 2. Students: Diverse Backgrounds and Purposes 45 3. Faculty: Building a Professional Identity 79 4. Organization, Governance, and Administration: Managing the Contemporary College 109 5. Finances: Generating, Sustaining, and Allocating Resources 151 6. Instruction: Methods, Media, and Effects 177 7. Student Services: Supporting Educational Objectives 209 8. Developmental Education: Enhancing Literacy and Basic Skills 235 9. Liberal Arts and Transfer Education: Preparation for the University 265 10. Integrative Education: Modifying General Education 289 11. Occupational Education: Growth and Change in Workforce Preparation 303 12. Community Education: Extending College Services and Training 333 13. Scholarship and Commentary: Perspectives of the Community College 359 14. Student Progress and Outcomes: A New Age of Accountability 391 15. Toward the Future: Trends, Challenges, and Obligations 435 Appendix: For-Profit Institutions 471 References 487 Name Index 541 Subject Index 549

/pdf/the-american-community-college-1b7wgq4q7v.pdf

The American Community College

The American Community College.

The collegiate function of community colleges

This book analyzes the community college's role as a link between secondary schools and four-year colleges and universities. It provides new insights into the colleges' conflicting identities as open access institutions and as gatekeepers for higher learning and shows how the two roles can be successfully reconciled.

/pdf/the-collegiate-function-of-community-colleges-fostering-1lv14424b6.pdf

Florence B. Brawer

Papers

The American Community College

The American Community College.

The collegiate function of community colleges

The American Community College

The Collegiate Function of Community Colleges: Fostering Higher Learning through Curriculum and Student Transfer.