Is College a Worthwhile Investment?

Barrow, Lisa; Malamud, Ofer

doi:10.1146/annurev-economics-080614-115510

Cited by 61 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Reviews of existing research on returns to higher education offer support for this possibility. Even marginal students who enter college appear to exhibit large returns, on average (Barrow & Malamud, 2015;Hout, 2012;Oreopoulos & Petronijevic, 2013). 28 The finding that low-cost assistance matters suggests that, for some students, enrollment decisions do not represent well thought out investment choices.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Keeping College Options Open: A Field Experiment to Help All High School Seniors Through the College Application Process

Oreopoulos,

Welch,

Ali

2017

AEA Randomized Controlled Trials

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Recent research suggests that the college application process itself prevents access. This paper reports results from a school-based experiment in which application assistance is incorporated into the high school curriculum for all graduating seniors at low-transition schools. Over three workshops, students were guided to pick programs of interest that they were eligible for, apply for real, and complete the financial aid application. The goal was to create a real college option for exiting students to make the transition easier and more salient. Among all graduating seniors, the program increased application rates by 15 percentage points, and college going rates by 5 percentage points. Among those not taking advanced-level courses, college enrollment increased by 9 percentage points. The program generated significant effects for a wide range of heterogeneous groups, including both males and females, those from urban and rural schools, and those with above and below average grades. While more intensive than other tested approaches, in-class application assistance may provide a more effective approach for bridging the gap towards higher education. C 2019 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Keeping College Options Open: A Field Experiment to Help All High School Seniors Through the College Application Process

Oreopoulos,

Welch,

Ali

2017

AEA Randomized Controlled Trials

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Section: The Difference Makersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, a rigorous study done in Norway showed that a university degree in a career related to science, technology, engineering, or math increased earnings 11 percent per year of study more than a degree in the social sciences (Kirkeboen, Leuven, and Mogstad, 2016). Evidence from the United States also suggests that the returns to different fields of study vary significantly (Barrow and Malamud, 2015).Finally, limited evidence on the role of learning-by-doing suggests that this is an important factor for skills development. In particular, a study in Germany showed that the average worker enjoys a cumulative increase of 2 percent per each additional year of work experience (Dustmann and Meghir, 2005).…”

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confidence: 99%

Learning Better: Public Policy for Skills Development

Busso¹,

Cristia²,

Hincapié³

et al. 2017

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC-IGO BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO) license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/legalcode) and may be reproduced with attribution to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed.Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC-IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent. Preface New technologies that are fusing the physical, digital, and biological worlds are impacting all industries, countries, and individuals. This so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution will change the way we live and transform the way we work. Preparing this and future generations of workers for a fast-changing world is not only desirable, it's essential. At the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) we know that a key ingredient to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean is having the right skills to face the challenges of this new era. For this reason, we dedicated the 2017 edition of our flagship publication, Development in the Americas (DIA), to studying this topic and to proposing evidence-based solutions to address this critical problem.Undoubtedly, our region will be heavily impacted by sweeping trends around the world. Artificial intelligence, automation, the Internet of Things, 3D printing, and autonomous vehicles are not science fiction anymore. They are real and available in many parts of the world and beginning to find their way to Latin America and the Caribbean. These new trends are changing our jobs and the way we work. The full impact of these changes is still unknown, but clearly there will be a fundamental transformation in the way businesses do their business and workers do their work.A phrase by Robin Chase (co-founder of Zipcar) is telling: "My father had one job in his lifetime, I will have six jobs in my lifetime, and my children will have six jobs at the same time." Not only will our work not be a 9-to-5 job, but we will also not have the same job for our entire life. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will impose continuous and fast changes that will imply new challenges.A central challenge is how to prepare the workers of today for the jobs of tomorrow. I am optimistic because one of the region's principal assets is its people's talent. But much must be done, starting with helping the many workers in the labor force today find good jobs, and stay updated on t...

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“…This can be done by screening on the basis of observable student characteristics, such as exam scores and grades. Empirically, selective nonprofit colleges generate much higher earnings premia relative to for-profit schools (Barrow & Malamud 2015). However, even in the absence of higher earnings premia, nonprofit schools can attract higher-ability students by offering lower net tuition through tapping their endowment assets.…”

Section: Adding Nonprofit Educational Institutions To the Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Education Financing and Student Lending

Amromin¹,

Eberly²

2016

Annu. Rev. Financ. Econ.

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As the cost of education rises and student debt reaches new highs, more research has focused on financing the acquisition of human capital. Most research has had a positive focus, examining the effect of debt on student choices and outcomes. However, because education financing involves many public policy choices, normative questions have become more prominent. We discuss the trade-offs involved in these choices and propose simple models to help shape these questions. We first develop an overlapping generations framework of student debt to examine the macroeconomic impact of shifting from a parent-funded to a student debt-based financing system. We then consider a framework that includes the supply-side response to different funding regimes; that is, how do enrollment and tuition decisions of schools respond to changes in education financing?We show that shifting from parent-based funding to a student loan program can lower aggregate savings, although welfare still improves if education has a higher return than physical capital investment. A public student loan program also tends to promote enrollment at the cost of higher tuition at for-profit schools and deteriorating loan performance, paid for by taxpayers. Alternative contract designs, with school participation in the lending program, tend to ameliorate these issues. 7.1

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Is College a Worthwhile Investment?

Cited by 61 publications

References 97 publications

Keeping College Options Open: A Field Experiment to Help All High School Seniors Through the College Application Process

Keeping College Options Open: A Field Experiment to Help All High School Seniors Through the College Application Process

Learning Better: Public Policy for Skills Development

Education Financing and Student Lending

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