Regional Migration to and from Higher Education Institutions: Scale, Determinants and Outcomes

This paper examines patterns of movement to study by undergraduates and patterns of mobility into work by graduates. Using national data and a large-scale dataset, student movement across regions to Higher Education Institutions is described and modelled. The evidence points to a sizeable group of graduates who never move region and a significant proportion of graduates who move to study but then move back to their home region for work. Investigation is made of whether or not movement and mobility depend on the subject studied, the type of HE undertaken, the characteristics of the individual and the characteristics of the origin and destination regions. A hypothesis is proposed that the motive for movement is to secure greater rewards from Higher Education. However, those who move region to study report significantly lower satisfaction scores with their course of study. The implications of these findings for regional agencies, for institutions and for students are considered.     

GRADUATES' VIEWS ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF THEIR HIGHER EDUCATION TO THEIR GENERAL DEVELOPMENT: A Retrospective Evaluation for the United Kingdom

Using a data set on 12,000 UK graduates, weexplore graduates' satisfaction with the contributionthat higher education (HE) has made to their generaldevelopment. Using an ordered logit model, weinvestigate which graduates are the most likely to evaluatefavorably the contribution of their HE. We makeinferences about the relationship between the type of HEand its contribution to general development across a number of facets. Exploiting the historicalcomposition of the data, we also examine the extent towhich these contributory effects of HE to generaldevelopment erode or diminish as the graduates age. This approach permits some critical insightinto whether HE influences development over the courseof one's life.     

Measuring the relationship between resources and outcomes in higher education in the UK

This paper relates educational resources in higher education (HE) to labour market earnings for UK graduates. A positive relationship between (various types of) resources deployed and earnings is tested for, using data on UK graduates. Although basic correlations show a positive relationship between per unit resources and student–staff ratios with subsequent earnings, these correlations are significantly reduced when other controlling factors are included. The magnitude of any improvement in earnings from an increase in resources deployed in HE is estimated. The elasticity of earnings with respect to resources is also estimated.     

The public returns to public educational investments in African-American males

This paper calculates the public savings (financial benefits) from greater public investments in the education of African-American males. Over one-fifth of each age cohort of black males in US is not a high school graduate. We identify five interventions that would—based on credible research—increase the graduation rate; we also report the public cost of each intervention. We then calculate the lifetime public benefits in terms of increased tax revenues and lower spending on health and crime. In present values, for a black male aged 20, these public benefits amount to $256,700 per new graduate and the median intervention would cost only $90,700. The benefit/cost ratio is 2.83. Simply equating the high school graduation rate of black males with that of white males would yield public savings of $3.98 billion for each age cohort. These results suggest that increased investments in education for black males at risk of dropping out of high school should be an economic priority.     

The privatization and marketization of US schooling

This paper describes the trend towards the privatization and marketization of US schooling across three domains. We begin by describing the trend in recent pro-market policy reforms — proposed or enacted — to US schooling. This reform trend can be explained in terms of the growing importance of economic theory and economic evidence in social and political discourse. Briefly, we review mainstream economic theory and evidence to see what general lessons can be drawn, with a focus on productive efficiency. In the main section of the paper, we look at the direct evidence for US schooling not only in terms of the productive efficiency of schools, but also equity in schools, freedom of choice for parents and students, and the social cohesion produced by schools. Our review reaches a number of conclusions which suggest that the trend toward privatization and marketization may generate greater productive efficiency. Although the economic analysis is deficient in several ways and may have limited pertinence for social goods such as education, it highlights the need for strong and effective systems of accountability. Regardless of whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, however, it may be difficult to prevent further steps toward marketization.     

Over-education: What influence does the workplace have?

The wage and job satisfaction impacts for over-educated workers have been well-documented; yet little attention has been paid to the consequences for firms. In this paper we examine over-education from the perspective of the workplace. Using linked employer–employee data for the United Kingdom, we derive the standard worker-level penalties on wages and job satisfaction. We then show how over-education rates across workplaces adversely influence workplace pay and workplace labor relations. For individual workers who may be at-risk of over-education, we also distinguish between workforce composition effects and workplace labor practices, such as hiring. The effect of over-education on job satisfaction is particularly strong and its effects are evident at the workplace level. Our results suggest that investigations of over-education at the level of the firm are a promising area of inquiry.     

Student Loans and Repayment Rates: The Role of For-profit Colleges

This paper examines the institutional determinants of federal loan status for a recent cohort of college students. We first set out how institutions influence loan accumulations and repayment rates, with particular focus on for-profit colleges. We then test a set of hypotheses about loan status and repayment using national data on loans, defaults, and repayments merged with college-level data. For all measures of loan status there are significant raw gaps between for-profit colleges and public and not-for-profit colleges. After controlling for student characteristics, measures of college quality, and college practices, large gaps in loan balance per student remain: students in for-profit colleges, especially the 2-year colleges, borrow approximately four times as much as they would have at a 2-year public college. For a student attending the ‘average’ college, their repayment rate is predicted to be 5 [9] percentage points lower if that college is for-profit compared to public [non-profit]. Repayment rates are also lower for colleges with higher proportions of minority students and with lower graduation rates; contrary to some claims, single-program institutions appear to have higher repayment rates.     

Efficiency in the community college sector: stochastic frontier analysis

This paper estimates technical efficiency scores across the community college sector in the United States. Using stochastic frontier analysis and data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System for 2003–2010, we estimate efficiency scores for 950 community colleges and perform a series of sensitivity tests to check for robustness. We find that community colleges have become more efficient over time, but no evidence of economies of scale. We also find significant variation in efficiency across colleges, with only part of this variation explained by exogenous differences by state and across student characteristics.