College Readiness Assessment
Category: Pathways to and Through Postsecondary
Schooling is most closely connected to work at the highest levels of education. As a growing share of adults return to higher education after beginning work, we ask how individuals draw on their work experience and career values to select a graduate program. We draw on two independent but complementary interview studies to examine this question across higher- and lower-status occupations: business and teaching. We find that within both fields, students’ career values and aspirations guide them toward distinct tiers of educational prestige. In higher-status graduate programs, students’ perceived prospects are broadened or limited by occupational status. Our findings illuminate how both occupational and institutional status shape educational decision-making in the context of growing labor market uncertainty and economic precarity.
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/xe6h-bx36
