College Mathematics Beliefs and Belonging Survey
Category: Student Well-Being
Graduate degrees in education serve as both a salary-boosting credential for teachers and a vital revenue source for institutions. But given a lack of evidence of their effectiveness, reformers have sought to decouple teacher pay from these credentials. Without a wage premium, educators may skip advanced study, reducing enrollment at nearby universities. Using a natural experiment in Tennessee, we show that eliminating an advanced degree wage premium for teachers led to a 21% enrollment decline in education fields alone across the state, with larger effects at public and nonresearch- intensive universities. This drop subsequently reduced institutional tuition revenue and related state funding. We discuss implications for universities, the teacher pipeline, and policy interplay across the P-20 policy environment.
Keywords
compensation reform; difference-in-differences; education policy; graduate education; higher education; Race to the Top; teacher preparation; Tennessee
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/nb29-0t53
