Month: August 2024

The results are in, and it’s been confirmed—today’s American workforce is more educated than ever. Millennials are credited with contributing to the swelling number of workers in the United States who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. And you may have noticed employers rewarding college graduates with higher starting salaries, pay increases, and management positions. If so, then…

If you have your associate degree or are considering going back to school, you are probably asking questions like, “Should I get my bachelor’s degree?” and “How difficult are bachelor’s classes, anyway?” While only you can decide if enrolling in a college program is right for you, there are many benefits to getting your bachelor’s degree. In…

Higher education is more valued in the workplace today than ever before. In fact, it’s been reported that individuals with bachelor’s degrees have 57 percent more job opportunities and earn 56 percent more than those with only a high school diploma. This type of data has encouraged many of the 36 million adults who dropped out of college before completing their bachelor’s degrees…

Obtaining your bachelor’s degree used to be a way for students to stand out from others in a highly competitive job market. In the last five years, however, the number of job postings requiring the minimum of a bachelor’s degree has increased significantly. This new standard shows that job applicants having a bachelor’s or an even…

When discussions take place about first-generation college students, often the focus is on how disadvantaged they are in comparison to their peers whose parents went to college. Research we recently conducted shows that first-generation college students experience another form of disadvantage that lasts long after they graduate – and that is: how much they earn. We are sociologists who…

After earning bachelor’s degrees in engineering and sociology, I was determined to do what I love. I headed straight to graduate school to investigate the social problems that frightened and fascinated me. For almost a decade, I told everyone I encountered – students, cousins, baristas at the coffee shop I frequented – that they should…

Studies have long shown that a college student’s odds of achieving financial security and a better quality of life improve when he or she earns a degree. But what are some of the obstacles that prevent degree attainment? At the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, we study the challenges that students from low- and moderate-income households face in attaining…

Since the cost of going to college is an important concern for a large segment of voters, the 2016 presidential candidates are all advocating policies aimed at making a college education more affordable. The Democrats want to use government resources to offer more financial aid and lower the interest rates on federally guaranteed student loans. The Republicans,…

Documents released in a federal lawsuit against Trump University have put presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on the defensive. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is now highlighting the fraud that is at the center of the case. In the process, many commentators are identifying the Trump University business model as further indication of the fraudulent activity seen to be endemic…