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Limited Supply and Lagging Enrollment: Production Technologies and Enrollment Changes at Community Colleges during the Pandemic

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  • Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach
  • Sarah Turner
Abstract
Weak labor markets typically lead young workers to invest in skills. High unemployment during COVID diverged from prior downturns: enrollment at community colleges dropped by 9.5 percent between 2019 and 2020, with the drop larger among men. COVID disruptions generated supply-side impacts on courses of study requiring significant capital and “hands on” experiential learning, particularly programs that deliver of assembly, repair and maintenance (ARM) skills. Community colleges that had relative concentrations of credentials in ARM fields pre-pandemic experienced relatively large enrollment declines. The decline in ARM enrollment explains nearly all the difference in enrollment declines by gender during COVID.

Suggested Citation

  • Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach & Sarah Turner, 2022. "Limited Supply and Lagging Enrollment: Production Technologies and Enrollment Changes at Community Colleges during the Pandemic," NBER Working Papers 29639, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29639
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sarena Goodman & Alice Henriques Volz, 2020. "Attendance Spillovers between Public and For-Profit Colleges: Evidence from Statewide Variation in Appropriations for Higher Education," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 15(3), pages 428-456, Summer.
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    Cited by:

    1. Xianbo Li, 2022. "Sequence Model and Prediction for Sustainable Enrollments in Chinese Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-25, December.
    2. Etienne Dagorn & Léonard Moulin, 2023. "Dropping Out of University in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic," Working Papers 276, French Institute for Demographic Studies.
    3. Alex Chernoff & Gabriela Galassi, 2023. "Digitalization: Labour Markets," Discussion Papers 2023-16, Bank of Canada.

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    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

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