College graduates of the new millennium are different than previous generations. Not just because they prefer Snapchat to email and have mountains of school loans, but also because of their choices of where to live. In the past, several factors such as the proportion of a city’s workers who are college educated, job prospects, income levels, and […]
Where are new college grads going to find jobs? Read More »
August is here, and many families are preparing their children for the next academic challenge – a college education. By and large, a college degree is viewed as an important credential for gainful employment and professional success. At the same time, college is costly, and college financing strategies are complex. Students and their families use
Most students borrow for college, but are they financially literate? Read More »
Students are bombarded with an array of competing opportunities during college, all with the promise that each will lead to a better job or higher earnings upon entering the “real world.” One such option is the double major, in which a student earns two bachelor degrees at once, sometimes in entirely different disciplines. But will
Does it pay to get a double major in college? Read More »
The unemployment rate has plunged to about the lowest level in half a century. Yet at least one group of Americans is being left behind: men who didn’t go to college. Just 78 percent of men aged 25-54 who never went to college were employed in 2016, the latest year for which data are available in the American
22 percent of men without college don’t have jobs. Here’s why they’re being left behind Read More »
Should college majors be a thing of the past? That idea received a fresh airing when author Jeffrey Selingo suggested that it’s “time to end college majors as we know them.” As a researcher who studies higher education, I concede that something about the way colleges and universities educate students in the United States needs to
Some want to get rid of college majors – here’s how that could go wrong Read More »
In a 2009 speech, President Barack Obama proclaimed that by 2020, the United States will “once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.” As we near 2020, it is worth asking how close are we to reaching that lofty goal and what have been the results of focusing so intently on college graduation
The problem with the push for more college degrees Read More »
The rising amount of student loan debt can pose serious challenges for individual borrowers. For that reason, colleges and universities and even the federal government have been pursuing solutions to alleviate the burden. But what are the best ways to go about student debt relief? Who should qualify? And what practical effect will debt relief
Student loan debt is crushing Americans – 4 essential reads Read More »
Students who are the first in their family to attend college tend to see it as a means to improve their personal lives and as an opportunity for social mobility. That contrasts with the main message students get from policymakers and universities that largely emphasize career growth. This is the main finding from interviews we conducted with
Beyond social mobility, college students value giving back to society Read More »
College graduation gaps between Black and white students tend to shrink when there are more students of color or faculty of color on campus. This finding is based on analyses of 2,807 four-year U.S. colleges conducted by psychology researcher Nida Denson and me. Our research appeared as a peer-reviewed article in 2022 in Volume 93, Issue 3, of The Journal
A recent federal study on graduation rates for American colleges and universities shows that 40% of all students did not earn a degree or credential within eight years of leaving high school. The graduation rate is even lower for low-income students. Among students from families with income levels of US$115,000 or more, 66% who enrolled in higher
Graduation rates for low-income students lag while their student loan debt soars Read More »
