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The causal effect of off-campus work on time to degree
Abstract
In this paper we analyze the effect of outside university work on time to first degree at German universities. The database is the ‘Absolventenpanel' 2001, a panel study conducted by the ‘Hochschul-Informations-System'. Aiming to estimate the causal effect correctly, we apply a matching strategy based on the approach put forward by Rosenbaum and Rubin [(1983) “The Central Role of Propensity Score in Observational Studies for Causal Effects.” Biometrika 70: 41-55]. The results of the matching approach reveal that simple prima facie results are upward biased but confirm that off-campus work has a prolonging effect on study duration.
... On the other hand, other authors argue for a negative selection, reasoning that students with lower motivation and lower ability are more likely to combine study and work (Rothstein, 2007;Bachmann et al., 2011;Buscha et al., 2012). With regard to financial constraints, Kalenkoski and Pabilonia (2010) and Behr and Theune (2016) have shown that the financial wealth of a family is negatively associated with the number of hours students work. As Sirin (2005) showed in his review of 58 studies that socioeconomic status (which is closely linked to financial wealth of the family) ...
... The objective of PSM is to compare each working student with a similar non-working student. This is achieved through a three-step procedure (Buscha et al., 2012;Behr & Theune, 2016;. In the first step, for each individual in the sample the probability of working as a student is predicted based on various covariates, i.e. the propensity score. ...
... Next, five studies rely solely on a matching approach to control for the endogeneity of student work and educational outcomes. Four of them report a negative relationship between these variables (Lee & Staff, 2007;McCoy & Smyth, 2007;Bachman et al., 2011;Behr & Theune, 2016), while one study finds both negative and neutral effects depending on the outcome variable used . ...
... On the other hand, other authors argue for a negative selection, reasoning that students with lower motivation and lower ability are more likely to combine study and work (Rothstein, 2007;Bachmann et al., 2011;Buscha et al., 2012). With regard to financial constraints, Kalenkoski and Pabilonia (2010) and Behr and Theune (2016) have shown that the financial wealth of a family is negatively associated with the number of hours students work. As Sirin (2005) showed in his review of 58 studies that socioeconomic status (which is closely linked to financial wealth of the family) is positively related to academic achievement, one should also control for students' financial constraints to control for a (potentially) negative selection effect. ...
... The objective of PSM is to compare each working student with a similar non-working student. This is achieved through a three-step procedure (Buscha et al., 2012;Behr and Theune, 2016;Scott-Clayton and Minaya, 2016). In the first step, for each individual in the sample the probability of working as a student is predicted based on various covariates, that is the propensity score. ...
... Next, five studies rely solely on a matching approach to control for the endogeneity of student work and educational outcomes. Four of them report a negative relationship between these variables (Lee and Staff, 2007;McCoy and Smyth, 2007;Bachman et al., 2011;Behr and Theune, 2016), while one study finds both negative and neutral effects depending on the outcome variable used (Scott-Clayton and Minaya, 2016). ...
We review the theories put forward, methodological approaches used and empirical conclusions found in the multidisciplinary literature on the relationship between student employment and educational outcomes. A systematic comparison of the empirical work yields new insights that go beyond the overall reported negative effect of more intensive working schemes and that are of high academic and policy relevance. One such insight uncovered by our review is that student employment seems to have a more adverse effect on educational decisions (continuing studies and enrolment in tertiary education) than on educational performance (test and exam scores). *** A DISCUSSION PAPER VERSION OF THIS STUDY IF FREELY DOWNLOADABLE HERE: https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp11023.html
... Nonis and Hudson (2002) report the results of surveys in the U.S. showing that 2/3rds of college students say that they are concerned with having enough money to complete college. Surveys of college students in other countries, including some European ones, produce similar results (such as Germany; Behr & Theune, 2016). Many college students hold jobs to help defray college expenses, with studies showing that this leads to: Students taking longer to graduate (Behr and Theune, 2016), lower grades (Sanchez-Gelabert, Figueroa & Elias, 2017), and higher drop-out rates (Hovdhaugen, 2015). ...
... Surveys of college students in other countries, including some European ones, produce similar results (such as Germany; Behr & Theune, 2016). Many college students hold jobs to help defray college expenses, with studies showing that this leads to: Students taking longer to graduate (Behr and Theune, 2016), lower grades (Sanchez-Gelabert, Figueroa & Elias, 2017), and higher drop-out rates (Hovdhaugen, 2015). The economic pressures apparently have direct effects on students by leading them to spend time working when they seemingly would be focusing on their studies. ...
Scholars studying scholastic achievement in higher education find that students have specific course grades in mind that satisfy their desires for academic performance. When students believe that they are on-track to achieve those grades, they divert resources to other endeavors. This paper tests a resulting hypothesis: Students balance higher grades on easier assignments with lower grades on more difficult ones. After experimentally inducing time stress by assigning students to participate in an experiential learning exercise, those busier with volunteer work did balance their higher grades on the easier, experiential assignments, against lower ones on the course exams. Additionally, the time stress produced a strong interaction effect. Among the busier students, the time stress reduced their course grades (those not related to the experiential learning), while among the less busy, those grades increased. Instructors should be aware that some course activities are less linked to learning than others. The educational consequence of student grade satisficing is that when instructors offer more credit for easier activities, which are less linked to student learning, they may be reducing learning overall. The role of grade satisficing in reducing students’ acquisition of knowledge is an under-explored topic, but it has powerful implications for student learning.
... In Germany, no previous studies have focused on master's students. Studies have evaluated the association of employment with time to degree (Behr & Theune, 2016), academic performance (Sprietsma, 2015;Staneva, 2020), study duration, and the transition to the labor market (Staneva, 2020) for German first-degree or bachelor's students. In the international and German context, no previous study investigates the effect of student employment on academic performance and progress for international students. ...
... Regarding employment type, Staneva (2020) argues that students generate human capital more efficiently in study-related jobs because they acquire field-specific skills. According to empirical results, off-campus work, which is often study-unrelated, increases the duration of one's studies (Behr & Theune, 2016;Ehrenberg & Sherman, 1987). A crosssectional study shows that working in non-study-related jobs results in more time conflicts than working in study-related jobs (Vögtle & Hámori, 2020). ...
Even though there is an increasing number of degree-mobile students in Europe, not much is known about the effect of student employment on academic performance and study progress for international students. International students broadly engage in student employment during their studies. They differ in several characteristics from native students (e.g., by financial situation, language skills, and time spent on studying) and are a heterogeneous group (e.g., by country of origin, educational background, and intention to remain in the destination country). This study explores whether student employment and different dimensions of employment (e.g., study-related employment, employment amounts) affect the semester grade point average and the share of achieved credit points per semester. Using the first four semesters of a longitudinal study of international students in Germany and hybrid panel models (n = 1625), the study shows that students with a higher study-related employment tendency across semesters have, on average, better semester grades. When estimating the within-student effect, it is demonstrated that changes to student employment and different employment dimensions do not change the semester grades. In contrast, starting employment or increases in employment amounts (e.g., more hours per week) decreases the share of achieved credit points per semester. However, only specific student groups (e.g., students studying mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering) experience a delay in their study progress due to higher employment intensities.
... Recent work by Baert et al. (2018) suggest that the peer review literature is inconclusive in relation to the penalty of student employment and educational performance.) Their own research, however, provided further support for the findings of a negative impact on degree outcomes as a result of student working (Behr and Theune 2016;Curtis 2007;Ford, Bosworth, and Wilson 1995;Humphrey 2006;Neyt et al. 2019;Triventi 2014). This is contrasted with a growing number of studies focused on student employability outcomes improving as a result of working alongside university, with the acquisition of transferable skills having a measurable effect on graduate employment outcomes (Qenani, MacDougall, and Sexton 2014;Rothwell, Herbert, and Rothwell 2008). ...
... Student employment literature presents a very mixed picture of the impact of student employment on academic performance. Recent work by Baert et al. (2018) suggests the peer review literature is inconclusive, while previous studies (such as Behr and Theune 2016;Neyt et al. 2019;Triventi 2014) suggest a negative impact on degree outcomes as a result of student working. Whereas research by Robotham (2012) suggested that although students can spend more time at work than studying, overall they reported more positive outcomes than negative. ...
The student workforce plays a substantial part in several low-paying industries such as retail and hospitality, and this has grown over time. However, there has been little recent research. The usual assumption is that students compete successfully with the local labour force for low-skill, part-time jobs, but there is little evidence for this. Using results from twelve employer interviews located in two cities in the United Kingdom (Bristol and Cardiff), we reconsider employers’ perspectives on taking on students. We find that, rather than seeing the labour market as an undistinguished mass of ‘arms and legs’, employers are well aware of the pros and cons of employing students, and use this information to build flexible workforces which complement the local non-student labour supply. This fits into the well documented model of the ‘core’ and ‘periphery’ workforces. We do find evidence of indirect competition, through changes in the way jobs are advertised and filled. We also note the growth in managers who have themselves worked as students may be changing the ‘frame of reference’ of those managers, further shifting the demand for student workers in the long term.
... We also perform a case study that tries to predict whether the student at each semester will graduate on-time or overtime, by using features related to course timing and ordering as pursued by that student. TTD prediction has been explored in several previous studies [1,2,5,9,15], where they used features about student's demographic information, family background, financial aid, on-and off-campus work and experiences, as well as course grades and credit hours. We train several binary classification models using the proposed course timing and ordering features and show that curriculum planning is also a good indicator for TTD prediction. ...
... Here, we test whether the timing and ordering of courses as taken by the student at each semester can help predict whether he/she will graduate on-time or over-time. There has been a lot of research on TTD prediction and analyzing the possible effects behind over-time graduation [1,2,5,9,15]. Features like academic features, financial aid, off-and oncampus work and experience, family background, student's demographic information and high school grades have all been investigated and they were found to be good predictors for TTD. In this work, we build a classification model that uses course timing and ordering features to predict students who are at-risk of graduating over-time. ...
In recent years, several data-driven methods have been developed to help undergraduate students during course selection and sequencing. These methods tend to utilize the whole set of past course registration data, regardless of the past students' graduation GPA and time to degree (TTD). Though some previous work has shown through the results of their developed models that students of different GPA tend to take courses in different sequence, the actual analysis of the degree plans and how/if they relate to the students' graduation GPA and time-to-degree has not received much attention. This study analyzes how the student's academic level when they take different courses, as well as the pairwise degree similarity between pairs of students relate to the students' graduation GPA and TTD. Our study uses a large-scale dataset that contains 25 majors from different colleges at the University of Minnesota and spans 16 years. The analysis shows that TTD is highly correlated with both the timing and ordering of courses that students follow in their degree plans, while the correlation between graduation GPA and the course timing and ordering is not as high. We also perform a case study that uses course timing and ordering features to predict whether the student at each semester will graduate on-time or overtime. The results show that careful curriculum planning is needed to improve graduation rates in universities.
... This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. with work responsibilities increases students' risk of dropping out and extends their time to degree (Behr & Theune, 2016;Bound et al., 2012). Considering tuition costs, efforts to increase access to scholarships and grants may help students to reduce their work commitments and devote more time and energy to their coursework (Broton et al., 2016). ...
The American Psychological Association Guidelines for the Psychology Major emphasize the development of scientific inquiry and critical thinking skills. We present findings from a department-wide effort to promote statistical literacy in introductory psychology at a nonselective public college. We examined course outcomes across 10 course sections taught in person or online with varying enrollments (total N = 485 students). Instructors administered online assignments about psychological research via Qualtrics, featuring statistics exercises and Excel worksheet activities. As a low-stakes introduction to statistical reasoning, instructors graded work based on completion rather than accuracy. Students completed the majority of Qualtrics assignments and about half of the Excel worksheets. As potential factors related to student outcomes, we considered external factors, internal factors, and student skills, and included demographic factors as control variables. Students with greater work obligations and those who completed work on smartphones or tablets (external factors) completed fewer assignments than their peers. Students with higher self-efficacy and greater anxiety about statistics (internal factors) completed more Qualtrics assignments, and those with higher statistics knowledge and reading comprehension (student skills) completed more Excel worksheets. Course section characteristics (modality, enrollment) were unrelated to student outcomes. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using low-stakes assignments to promote statistical literacy while emphasizing psychology as an empirical science. Future studies should assess learning gains associated with the curriculum and identify specific pedagogical features (e.g., feedback, active learning) that increase student engagement.
... Expectations differed, for example, as to whether more motivated and capable students would be more or less likely to work while enrolled in college. Among the methodological approaches applied, simple linear regressions controlling for observable student characteristics were more common in the earlier literature, whereas more recent studies (e.g., Behr and Theune, 2016;Scott-Clayton and Minaya, 2016) are more likely to use propensity score matching methods, which similarly assume that selection of students into work is random conditional on the observable covariates used to calculate the propensity scores. ...
Although some students choose to work while enrolled in college, others may have no choice but to work, even if work may be detrimental to their chances of succeeding in college. Leveraging 17 years of statewide student-level records from Tennessee, the authors examine the relationship between working while enrolled and degree completion, time to degree, credit accumulation, and grade point average. The authors aim to increase understanding of how the timing and intensity of work relate to student outcomes and to explore how these relationships differ by college sector, industry of employment, and student characteristics. The authors find consistent negative associations between work and academic success, especially at higher levels of work intensity. Working students attempt and earn fewer credits and are 4 to 7 percentage points less likely to complete college. Among completers, working students take longer to graduate, even though they earn similar grade point averages and complete their attempted credits at similar rates to nonworking students.
... Academic research on the effectiveness of such strategies is scant. Although there is a fairly large literature examining individual characteristics or attributes associated with longer degree completion times (e.g., Behr and Theune (2016) identify that off-campus work extends time-todegree approximately one term, and Yue and Fu (2017) find that double-majoring, entering college undeclared, and switching majors is associated with extended time to degree), there is less work that looks at the effects of policies and programs on time-to-degree. ...
Online courses provide flexible learning opportunities, but research suggests that students may learn less and persist at lower rates compared to face-to-face settings. However, few studies have investigated more distal effects of online education. In this study, we analyzed 6 years of institutional data for three cohorts of students in 13 large majors (N = 10,572) at a public research university to examine distal effects of online course participation. Using online course offering as an instrumental variable for online course taking, we find that online course taking of major-required courses leads to higher likelihood of successful 4-year graduation and slightly accelerated time-to-degree. These results suggest that offering online courses may help students to more efficiently graduate college.
... In order to explain such differences in labour market participation we need to understand students' rationales for entering paid employment. On the one hand, working while studying may have a negative impact on academic results (Behr and Theune 2016;Hovdhaugen 2015;Neyt et al. 2017;Triventi 2014); on the other hand, there may be several benefits. These benefits can be divided into immediate monetary returns and long-term returns of work experience gained from on-the-job training that will pay off upon post-graduation labour market entry (Passaretta and Triventi 2016;Sanchez-Gelabert et al. 2017;Weiss et al. 2014). ...
This article examines class-specific employment patterns among students in Germany, taking into account how different local labour market conditions affect the quantity and quality of jobs available to students. We argue that the availability of jobs affects social inequalities in student employment. In particular, we expect a stronger correlation between, on the one hand, the rate and quality of student employment and, on the other hand, students’ socioeconomic background in towns with a large pool of student labour, due to more competition for (good) jobs. Analysing data from German student surveys, we find that employment rates do not differ by social class background, but there are differences in the quality of their employment in terms of the fit between the job and the field of study. While we find that local labour market conditions affect student employment at a general level, in contrast to our expectation, tighter labour market conditions seem to involve little or no disadvantage for students from less privileged social backgrounds.
... Working while studying. One could initially assume that working while studying would have a negative influence on study performance and prolongs the time to obtain a degree (Behr & Theune, 2016), since there is less time available to spend on exam preparation, tutorial attendance and other study-related work. However, Hovdhaugen (2015) pointed out that in Norway, working while studying interferes more with students' free time than with students' study time. ...
This study provides a comprehensive review of the phenomenon of students dropping out from tertiary education. Student withdrawal is the result of a long decision‐making process and complex interaction between several determinants. We first provide an overview of definitions, theoretical models and perspectives of dropping out. Referring to previous theoretical and empirical evidence from a wide range of disciplines, we then focus on a detailed discussion of determinants affecting the decisions of students to drop out. There are three main reasons for students to leave the higher education system without a degree. These are 1) the national education system, e.g., the country’s financing policy, 2) the higher education institutions, e.g., the type of institution or teaching quality, and 3) the students themselves, with this last aspect subdivided into a) pre‐study determinants, such as the secondary school type, and b) study‐related aspects, such as working while studying. Based on these findings, we discuss the implications for further research, especially the application of modern data mining techniques on comprehensive data sets covering a wide range of relevant determinants which may lead to new insights into the dropping out process. The results will provide helpful tools for universities wishing to implement early warning systems and to support students at risk, at an early stage of their study.
... This endogeneity can be corrected for by propensity score or difference-in-difference methods (see, e.g. Behr and Theune, 2016;Buscha et al., 2012;Scott-Clayton and Minaya, 2016;Triventi, 2014). Another way to correct for this bias is to use models with instrumental variables (see, e.g. ...
Purpose
This paper is the first of its kind to look at first-year undergraduates in France. The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of holding down a job on the probability of students dropping out of higher education or passing their first year.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the existence of relevant unobserved explanatory variables, probit models with two simultaneous equations have been estimated. The first equation will enable us to explain paid employment or working hours, and the second academic outcomes that allow for dropout.
Findings
The results show that being employed means students are more likely to drop out during their first year and less likely to pass. The latter finding is comparable with results for subsequent academic years although the impact is greater for first-year undergraduates. The more intensive the work, the greater the adverse effects of employment.
Originality/value
By refining the research, this negative impact of employment is not verified for all the student profiles. For some of them, e.g., those with honours at the secondary bachelor, employment does not harm their academic results.
... Failure to take account of such endogeneity could bias the results. This endogeneity can be corrected for by propensity-score or differencein-difference methods (see, for example, Behr and Theune 2016, Buscha et al. 2012, Scott-Clayton and Minaya 2016, Triventi 2014. Another way to correct for this bias is to use models with instrumental variables (see, for example, Beffy et al. 2009;Beffy et al. 2013, Body et al. 2014, Kalenkoski and Pabilonia 2010Kalenkoski and Pabilonia 2012). ...
This study is the first of its kind to look at first-year undergraduates in France. The aim is to measure the impact of holding down a job on the probability of students dropping out of higher education or passing their first year. The results show that being employed means students are more likely to drop out during their first year and less likely to pass. The latter finding is comparable with results for subsequent academic years although the impact is greater for first-year undergraduates. The more intensive the work, the greater the adverse effects of employment. But, by refining the research, this negative impact of employment is not verified for all the student profiles. For some of them, e.g. those with honors at the secondary bachelor, employment does not harm their academic results.
... Looking at longevity in education, McNeal Jr. (1997) notes that the likelihood of dropping out of school is correlated with the work-study combination at the secondary level, but that the effect was highly contingent on the type of job held. Behr and Theune (2014) look at the time to graduation and find that working while studying tends to prolong the time necessary to graduate. ...
... Few authors also consider the quality of the job by broadly distinguishing between on-campus and off-campus employment (e.g. Behr and Theune 2014;Wenz and Yu 2010) or the relation of the job to the student's field of study (Geel and Backes-Gellner 2012;Robert and Saar 2012). ...
In this article, we examine social origin differences in employment patterns across different stages of higher education and compare these differences between vocational and academic fields of study. Using data from a large-scale German student survey, we study the development of inequality, according to social origins, in student employment from first-year to graduating students. We show that inequality in job quality exists and is partly attributable to the need for students from lower social origins to work in order to finance their studies. We hypothesise that initial inequalities decrease as students progress through higher education. While we find evidence for this hypothesis, we also show in multivariate models that the reduction of inequality in the student labour market is explained by prior differences between social origin groups.
... Failure to take account of such endogeneity could bias the results. This endogeneity can be corrected for by propensity-score or difference-in-difference methods (see, for example, Behr and Theune (2016), Buscha et al. (2012), Scott-Clayton and Minaya (2016), Triventi (2014)). Another way to correct for this bias is to use models with instrumental variables (see, for example, Beffy et al. (2009Beffy et al. ( , 2013, , Pabilonia (2010, 2012)). ...
... Evidence from Italian and European universities indicate that labor market quality is also associated with the time it takes to obtain a bachelor's degree (Aina, Baici, & Casalone, 2011;Brunello & Winter-Ebmer, 2003). In the German university system, increased time spent in part-time work outside the university is related to a lengthening time-to-degree (Behr & Theune, 2016). Triventi (2014) distinguished between low-and high-intensity employment, and found that only the latter delayed academic progression in Europe. ...
The growth of the public discourse on college completion and student debt has pushed policymakers
and institutional leaders to implement a variety of policies aimed at incentivizing student completion.
This article examines state-adopted excess credit hour (ECH) policies on student completion
and median debt outcomes. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we find little evidence that ECH
policies positively affect student completion. However, we find statistically large estimates that
adoption of ECH policies increase median student debt. Students from marginalized backgrounds
(i.e., first-generation and low-income) appear to be most adversely affected by ECH policies. As
states face constant pressures for resources, the adoption of tuition-based surcharges does not significantly
alter student course-taking behaviors, rather shifts the cost burdens from the state to the
individual student for perceived inefficiencies in students’ course-taking behaviors.
Dropout prediction is an important strategic instrument for universities. The Austrian academic system relies on “student activity” for university funding, defined as accumulating 16+ ECTS credits per study year. This study proposes a combined method of machine learning and ARIMA models, predicting the number of studies eligible for funding in the next study year. Data from the University of Graz between 2013/14 and 2020/21 was used for machine learning, and data from 2011/12 to 2020/21 was used as a base for the ARIMA models. Repeated predictions for the outcome years 2018/19 to 2021/22 yielded values of accuracy at .82, precision at .76, and recall at .73. The results showed deviations between <1% and 7% from the official values. Differences may be explained by the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study offers a new approach to gaining information about future successful students, which is valuable for the implementation of preventive support structures.
Vor dem Hintergrund der weiteren Liberalisierung des Hochschulzugangs für nicht-traditionelle Studienbewerber/-innen widmet sich der vorliegende Beitrag der Frage, mit welchem Erfolg Studierende ohne Abitur oder Fachhochschulreife ihr Studium absolvieren. Dazu werden nicht-traditionelle Studierende verschiedenen Gruppen traditioneller Studierender gegenübergestellt. Die verwendete Datenbasis – die amtliche Hochschulstatistik und das Nationale Bildungspanel (NEPS) – macht eine Analyse anhand besonders einschlägiger, weitgehend objektiver Merkmale des Studienerfolgs möglich. Gleichzeitig erlaubt sie in einem Forschungsfeld, das von einer strukturell schwierigen Datenlage geprägt ist, bundesweit verallgemeinerbare Aussagen zur faktischen Studierfähigkeit nicht-traditioneller Studierender.
The transition out of adolescence signals a period of increasing personal and social responsibility. For many this means entering postsecondary or the labor market. Previous research has demonstrated that youth who do not finish high school in four years have less favorable postsecondary and labor outcomes. However, few studies compare the postsecondary and labor market outcomes within the group of students who do not finish high school in four years. The current study uses 12 years of linked-administrative data from Maryland to present the first statewide analyses comparing postsecondary and labor market outcomes for on-time graduates, GED earners, non-completers, and late graduates. The results describe an under-researched and underserved group of vulnerable students, with implications for supporting students during high school to improve the postsecondary and labor market transition.
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to identify the causal effect of the COVID-19 induced crisis on students' decisions about their educational plans. The authors hypothesise that students adjusted their decisions by delaying graduation, dropping out or change the field of education because of increased uncertainty about future employment and monetary returns.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical approach is based on a survey done during the first wave of COVID-19 in Slovenia. The probability of dropping out, prolonging or stop-out is designed by applying probit and probit with insturmental variables empirical model.
Findings
Primary orientation towards work increases the probability of dropping out and financial constraints increase the probability of prolonging studies. The same holds after accounting for endogeneity. However, the authors do not find that poor job expectations due to COVID-19 affect students' decisions to prolong, drop-out or stop-out. The authors also find that the primary orientation toward work or study explains the differences in the probability of each outcome that is not influenced by enrolment in a particular field of study.
Research limitations/implications
The results cannot be read as an objective prediction of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on college failures. However, the study provides insight into how students' expectations change their intentions to prolong, drop-out, or stop-out during periods of high uncertainty. The extent, to which measured intentions are realised, however, is uncertain.
Practical implications
Understanding the response diversity and motives behind students' study decisions represents extremely valuable insights for economic policy. Mapped apprehensions, augmented by heterogeneity in personal and financial characteristics, are relevant for policymakers. In terms of future research, it would be interesting to analyse what changes occurred over a five-year period, specifically which field of study was most affected by students' adjusted plans due to the pandemic.
Social implications
Students have always been a special group in the labour market. After the initial shock of closing activities, studying online and the drastic decrease in student work due to COVID-19, the decision was made in spring 2020 to continue on the chosen path or not. This paper provides insight into the changing decision students made about their educational plans.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the first to highlight the implications of COVID-19 for the adaptation of student plans in the transition from school-to work in Europe. It departs from the classical literature of college failures, as specific macroeconomic conditions influence students to reconsider their educational decisions. Moreover, the paper also contributes to the rapidly growing literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on household-level labour market outcomes, particularly with respect to job search and labour supply decisions in general.
To deal with the financial hardships associated with rising college tuition, many female college students in the U.S. are turning to risqué forms of financing human capital investments, such as agreeing to potentially lucrative ‘romantic arrangements’ with older males, referred to as ‘sugar daddies,’ through the largest Internet-based club in the industry. Yet despite this recent trend, there is a relative paucity of published academic research on the economics of such behaviour. Using data from the more than 220 nationally ranked (by U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges) colleges and universities in the U.S., presents results from both Poisson and scaled Poisson estimation suggesting that large, high-cost universities that are located in larger cities or where unemployment rates are higher lead the nation in the number of female students choosing such romantic arrangements in order to fund higher education. Moreover, those institutions that are chosen by more physically attractive female students, and those that enrol a higher percentage of female students, are also generating greater numbers of female student entrants into the sugar daddy industry. Each of these findings has implications for the human capital literature and the growing body of academic literature on the economics of beauty.
In Europe’s reformed education system, universities may be forced by law to consider undergraduate grade point average (UGPA) as the primary admission criterion in the selection of graduate students. In this article, we investigate whether UGPA predicts graduate student performance in order to discuss its usefulness as an admission criterion. In our theoretical framework, we show that undergraduate students may choose slower study progress in favour of receiving higher grades and conclude that UGPA is a relatively good (weak) predictor for graduate grade point average (study progress). Having data from a cohort of students whose selection was in clear conflict with the legal requirement, we empirically confirm our theoretical predictions by exploiting a unique opportunity for assessing educational policies. Discussion of our findings leads to some important conclusions concerning the Bologna reforms and the lawmakers’ idea of giving some independence to universities, but not too much of it.
Im Kap. 2 wird zunächst die Notenentwicklung in zwölf ausgewählten Studiengängen seit den 1960er Jahren beschrieben. Es zeigen sich langfristige stabile Unterschiede im Notenniveau zwischen Fächern, Studiengängen und auch zwischen Hochschulen in demselben Fach. Gleichzeitig gibt es eine langfristige Notenverbesserung in den meisten Studiengängen. In einem zweiten Teil werden verschiedene mögliche Ursachen für diese Entwicklungen untersucht. Die durchschnittliche Eingangseignung (Abiturnote) der Studierenden sowie die formalen Prüfungsbedingungen und –ordnungen beeinflussen das Notenniveau, aber die langfristige Entwicklung hängt weder mit dem Frauenanteil noch dem Durchschnittsalter sowie auch nicht mit weiteren Merkmalen der sozialen Zusammensetzung der Studierenden zusammen. Das Notenniveau schwankt dagegen zyklisch im Zusammenhang mit den sich ebenfalls zyklisch verändernden Studierendenzahlen. Dieser Einfluss ist bei den meisten Karrieren auf die schwankenden Berufsaussichten zurückzuführen. Die Veränderung des Notenniveaus ist dabei verschieden elastisch: Verbesserungen des Niveaus fallen stärker aus als anschließende Verschlechterungen. Das ist die Ursache für die langfristige grade inflation.
In this article, we evaluate the impact of social origin on the realisation of educational intentions at the time of becoming eligible for higher education in Germany. In general, we find high persistence of intentions and actual attendance of higher education. However, effects of parental education on the changes of educational intentions increase the existing social inequality with regard to higher education at the time of leaving secondary school. The group which is affected most are those young adults planning to study after vocational training—while the gap between different origin groups does not widen much during other stop-outs from education. This can be explained only partly by previous educational performance. The findings suggest that estimates of educational inequality are attenuated when entry into higher education is approximated by educational intentions of young adults.
The propensity score is the conditional probability of assignment to a particular treatment given a vector of observed covariates. Both large and small sample theory show that adjustment for the scalar propensity score is sufficient to remove bias due to all observed covariates. Applications include: (i) matched sampling on the univariate propensity score, which is a generalization of discriminant matching, (ii) multivariate adjustment by subclassification on the propensity score where the same subclasses are used to estimate treatment effects for all outcome variables and in all subpopulations, and (iii) visual representation of multivariate covariance adjustment by a two- dimensional plot.
We use a representative sample of Italian graduates drawn from the Consorzio
AlmaLaurea to assess the impact of individual and family characteristics,
university inputs and the labour market on the time taken to attain a degree. Our
estimates highlight that all these dimensions drive the outcome analysed. Weak
labour market prospects contribute particularly to length time to degree. Our
results suggest that a comprehensive policy intervention is needed to increase the
number of students graduating within the minimum period.
This paper uses panel data that cover the 1972-79 period obtained from the National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 to study how male students' employment while in college influences their academic performance, persistence in school, decisions to enroll in graduate school, and postcollege labor market success. Its analytic framework treats in-school employment as endogenous and determines persistence by a comparison of expected utilities.
The elapsed time taken to earn a Ph.D. in economics is analyzed with data from 618 1996-97 Ph.D.s. A duration model indicates that students supported by fellowships, and those holding a prior Master's degree finish faster. Americans, those who take jobs before completing their degree, and those with children take longer. Kids slow the progress of women, but not men. The only difference among fields is more time required for industrial organization and international economics. There is no difference in time-to-degree between men and women, married and single students, older and younger students, and those enrolled in larger or smaller Ph.D. programs.
An observational study is a nonexperimental investigation of the effects caused by a treatment. Unlike an experiment, in an observational study, the investigator does not control the assignment of treatments, with the consequence that the individuals in different treatment groups may not have been comparable prior to treatment. Analytical adjustments, such as matching, are used to remove overt bias, that is, pretreatment differences that are accurately measured and recorded. There may be pretreatment differences that were not recorded, called hidden biases, and addressing these is a central concern.
The research presented in this article was designed to analyze time to doctoral degree and completion rates by academic departments to identify departmental factors that affect these outcomes at one large, public, land- grant research institution. Results revealed that selected departmental characteristics are associated with longer times to degree and lower completion rates among doctoral students.
The time taken to earn doctorates is of major importance to administrators and faculty. By using stepwise multiple regression techniques, this study predicted time to doctorate from the available demographic, academic, and financial variables and determined the significance of each variable on time to the doctorate. The data for this study came from the National Research Council''s Doctorate Records File extract prepared for UCLA. This institution is particularly appropriate for a study of this kind, since it annually awards over 400 doctorates in over 75 different majors. Its doctoral recipients represent the range of academic fields of study. The results of this study indicated that source of support was the most important variable in predicting time to doctorate. Following source of support were postdoctoral plans, number of dependents, sex, and field of study. Together these variables explained a significant amount of variation in the criterion variable.
In this paper we investigate social selectivity in access to higher education in Germany and, unlike most previous studies,
explicitly devote attention to semi-tertiary institutions such as the so-called universities of cooperative education. Drawing
on rational choice models of educational decisions we seek to understand which factors influence upper secondary graduates
from different social backgrounds in their choices of diverse tertiary institutions in Germany. We find that scholastic performance,
expected job security, study duration, monetary costs and preferences for study content considerably contribute to the creation
of socially selective choice patterns of post-secondary careers. The characteristics of semi-tertiary institutions—such as
universities of cooperative education that combine firm-based training with tertiary education—constitute a potential alternative
that could reduce inequities in access to higher learning.
KeywordsHigher education–Differentiation–Social inequality–Social class
This paper examines the propensity to attain a Ph.D. degree at the five largest universities in Flanders, the Dutch speaking
part of Belgium. It provides insight into the rate at which junior scholars appointed at the universities involved attained
their Ph.D.-degree, and the duration of the doctoral training period. Cox’s regression model was applied to statistically
analyse the influence of a number of ‘demographic’ and ‘merit’ variables, and variables related to funding source and type
of appointment of the junior scholarly staff. Large differences in Ph.D. durations and attainment rates were found across
funding sources, research disciplines and types of appointments. The policy background and implications are discussed briefly.
In this paper I evaluate the effect of student aid on the success of academic studies. I focus on two dimensions, the duration of study and the probability of actually graduating with a degree. To determine the impact of financial student aid, I estimate a discrete-time duration model allowing for competing risks to account for different exit states (graduation and dropout) using individual level panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1984–2007. My findings suggest that the duration of study is responsive to the type of financial support a student receives. There are three main results. First, student aid recipients finish faster than comparable students who are supported by the same amount of parental/private transfers only. Second, although higher financial aid does on average not affect the duration of study, this effect is (third) dominated by the increased probability of actually finishing university successfully.
We examine the impact of tuition fees for long-term students at the University of Konstanz. Applying duration analysis to examine how tuition fees influence when and how students finish their studies in six different majors, we find significant effects with respect to the hazard rates of the various ways of terminating one’s studies. Furthermore, we analyze how the probability of terminating one’s studies in a certain period of time changes. Students obtain a degree in a shorter period of time in two majors. In three other majors, however, we observe that the probability of obtaining a degree generally decreased.
We give semiparametric identification and estimation results for econometric models with a regressor that is endogenous, bound censored and selected,called a Tobin regressor. First, we show that true parameter value is set identified and characterize the identification sets. Second, we propose novel estimation and inference methods for this true value. These estimation and inference methods are of independent interest and apply to any problem where the true parameter value is point identified conditional on some nuisance parameter values that are set-identified. By fixing the nuisance parameter value in some suitable region, we can proceed with regular point and interval estimation. Then, we take the union over nuisance parameter values of the point and interval estimates to form the final set estimates and confidence set estimates. The initial point or interval estimates can be frequentist or Bayesian. The final set estimates are set-consistent for the true parameter value, and confidence set estimates have frequentist validity in the sense of covering this value with at least a prespecified probability in large samples. We apply our identification, estimation, and inference procedures to study the effects of changes in housing wealth on household consumption. Our set estimates fall in plausible ranges, significantly above low OLS estimates and below high IV estimates that do not account for the Tobin regressor structure.
Projections of forthcoming shortages of Ph.D.s abound. Part of the reason is that American college graduates are much less likely to receive doctorates today than thcy were 20 years ago. Two important factors in this decline may be the increase in the length of time necessary for doctorate students to complete their programs that occurred over the period and the low completion rates of entrants into doctoral programs. Among the policies urged to prevent future Ph.D. shortages are increasing support for graduate students. Surprisingly little empirical evidence is available on how different types of support (fellowships. research assistantships, teaching assistantships) are likely to influence times-to-degree and completion rates. Our paper uses data on all graduate students who entered Ph.D. programs in four fields during a 25-year period at a single major doctorate producing university to estimate how graduate student financial support patterns influence these outcomes. We find that completion rates and mean durations of times-to-completion are sensitive to the types of financial support the students received. Other things held constant, students who receive fellowships or research assistantships have higher completion rates and shorter times-to-degree than students who receive teaching assistantships or tuition waivers, or who are totally self-supporting. A major finding Is that the Impact of financial support patterns on the fraction of students who complete programs is much larger than its impact on mean durations of times-to-degree.
Our paper uses data on all graduate students who entered PhD programs in four fields during a 25-year period at a single major doctorate producing university to estimate how graduate student financial support patterns influence their completion rates and times-to-degree. Competing risk "duration" or "hazard function" models are estimated. Wefind that completion rates, and the mean durations of their times-to-completion and to dropout are all sensitive to the types of financial support the students received. Other things held constant (including measured student ability), students who receive fellowships or research assistantships have higher completion rates and shorter times-to-degree than students who receive teaching assistantships or tuition waivers, or who are totally self-supporting. A major finding is that the impact of financial support patterns on the fraction of students who complete programs is much larger than its impact on mean durations of times-to-degree or to dropout.
We analyze the production process of Ph Ds in economics in The Netherlands. Our empirical results are consistent with the incentives that the actors in this process face. Universities succeed in making students who are unlikely to graduate or will need a long time to graduate quit the program. We find that supervisors who are active researchers have higher graduation and lower dropout rates. However, this effect is due to the fact that supervisors with a good research record have better students. There is no evidence of an independent effect of having a supervisor who is an active researcher.
- Sheridan P. M.