With rapid technological transformations to the labor market, many working adults return to college after graduation to obtain additional training or credentials. Using a comparative individual fixed effects strategy and an administrative panel dataset of enrollment and employment in Virginia, we provide the first causal estimates of credential “stacking” – earning two or more community college certificates or degrees – among working adults. We find stacking increases employment by four percentage points and quarterly wages by $375 (four percent). Returns are larger for individuals studying in Health and who return to college after first completing a short-term certificate.
Meyer, Katharine, Kelli A. Bird, and Benjamin L. Castleman. (). Stacking the Deck for Employment Success: Labor Market Returns to Stackable Credentials. (EdWorkingPaper: -317). Retrieved from
Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/jzq6-2y24
This study addresses an underexplored aspect of diversity at four-year research universities: the impact of international students on their domestic peers.
College graduates tend to marry each other. We use detailed Norwegian data to show that strong assortativity further arises by institution and field of study, especially among high earners from elite programs.