[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v41y2014icp24-39.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

College course scarcity and time to degree

Author

Listed:
  • Kurlaender, Michal
  • Jackson, Jacob
  • Howell, Jessica S.
  • Grodsky, Eric
Abstract
College students are taking longer to earn baccalaureate degrees now than ever before, but little is known about institutional factors that may contribute to this trend. In this paper we investigate an important institutional constraint—course scarcity—that we hypothesize may be associated with increased time to degree. We employ a unique administrative dataset from a large, moderately selective, public institution and use an instrumental variables approach, identifying off the random registration times assigned to students. Results suggest that course scarcity does not delay students’ graduation. We explore alternative explanations for our findings and discuss a variety of other factors correlated with time to baccalaureate completion.

Suggested Citation

  • Kurlaender, Michal & Jackson, Jacob & Howell, Jessica S. & Grodsky, Eric, 2014. "College course scarcity and time to degree," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 24-39.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:41:y:2014:i:c:p:24-39
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.03.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775714000387
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.03.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandy, Jonathan & Gonzalez, Arturo & Hilmer, Michael J., 2006. "Alternative paths to college completion: Effect of attending a 2-year school on the probability of completing a 4-year degree," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 463-471, October.
    2. Sarah Turner, 2004. "Going to College and Finishing College.Explaining Different Educational Outcomes," NBER Chapters, in: College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay For It, pages 13-62, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Glocker, Daniela, 2011. "The effect of student aid on the duration of study," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 177-190, February.
    4. John Bound & Michael F. Lovenheim & Sarah Turner, 2010. "Why Have College Completion Rates Declined? An Analysis of Changing Student Preparation and Collegiate Resources," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 129-157, July.
    5. John J. Siegfried & Wendy A. Stock, 2001. "So You Want to Earn a Ph.D. in Economics?: How Long Do You Think It Will Take?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 36(2), pages 364-378.
    6. Webber, Douglas A. & Ehrenberg, Ronald G., 2010. "Do expenditures other than instructional expenditures affect graduation and persistence rates in American higher education?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 947-958, December.
    7. Stock, Wendy A & Siegfried, John J, 2001. "So You Want to Earn a Ph.D. in Economics: How Much Do You Think You'll Make?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(2), pages 320-335, April.
    8. Wendy A. Stock & John J. Siegfried, 2006. "Time-to-Degree for the Economics Ph.D. Class of 2001-2002," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 467-474, May.
    9. Ronald G. Ehrenberg & Panagiotis G. Mavros, 1995. "Do Doctoral Students' Financial Support Patterns Affect Their Times-To-Degree and Completion Probabilities?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(3), pages 581-609.
    10. Scott-Clayton, Judith, 2012. "What Explains Trends in Labor Supply Among U.S. Undergraduates?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 65(1), pages 181-210, March.
    11. DesJardins, Stephen L. & Ahlburg, Dennis A. & McCall, Brian P., 2006. "The effects of interrupted enrollment on graduation from college: Racial, income, and ability differences," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 575-590, December.
    12. Susan Dynarski, 2008. "Building the Stock of College-Educated Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 576-610.
    13. Bound, John & Turner, Sarah, 2007. "Cohort crowding: How resources affect collegiate attainment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 877-899, June.
    14. Stephen L. DesJardins & Dennis A. Ahlburg & Brian P. McCall, 2002. "A Temporal Investigation of Factors Related to Timely Degree Completion," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(5), pages 555-581, September.
    15. Judith Scott-Clayton, 2012. "What Explains Trends in Labor Supply Among U.S. Undergraduates, 1970-2009?," NBER Working Papers 17744, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. John Bound & Michael F. Lovenheim & Sarah Turner, 2012. "Increasing Time to Baccalaureate Degree in the United States," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 7(4), pages 375-424, September.
    17. Cohodes, Sarah & Goodman, Joshua, 2012. "First Degree Earns: The Impact of College Quality on College Completion Rates," Working Paper Series rwp12-033, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    18. Calcagno, Juan Carlos & Bailey, Thomas & Jenkins, Davis & Kienzl, Gregory & Leinbach, Timothy, 2008. "Community college student success: What institutional characteristics make a difference?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 632-645, December.
    19. Singell, Larry Jr., 2004. "Come and stay a while: does financial aid effect retention conditioned on enrollment at a large public university?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 459-471, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Oliver, Daniel & Fairlie, Robert & Millhauser, Glenn & Roland, Randa, 2021. "Minority student and teaching assistant interactions in STEM," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Mumford, Kevin J. & Patterson, Richard & Yim, Anthony, 2024. "College Course Shutouts," IZA Discussion Papers 16859, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Robles, Silvia & Gross, Max & Fairlie, Robert W., 2021. "The effect of course shutouts on community college students: Evidence from waitlist cutoffs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    4. Nick Huntington-Klein & Andrew Gill, 2021. "Semester Course Load and Student Performance," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(5), pages 623-650, August.
    5. Yu Chen & Xiaodan Hu, 2021. "The Nudge to Finish Up: A National Study of Community College Near-Completion Students," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(5), pages 651-679, August.
    6. Aina, Carmen & Baici, Eliana & Casalone, Giorgia & Pastore, Francesco, 2018. "The economics of university dropouts and delayed graduation: a survey," GLO Discussion Paper Series 189, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Aina, Carmen & Baici, Eliana & Casalone, Giorgia & Pastore, Francesco, 2022. "The determinants of university dropout: A review of the socio-economic literature," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michel Grosz & Michal Kurlaender & Ann Stevens, 2022. "Capacity and Flexibility in Community College CTE Programs: Program Offerings and Student Success," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(1), pages 140-188, February.
    2. John Bound & Michael F. Lovenheim & Sarah Turner, 2012. "Increasing Time to Baccalaureate Degree in the United States," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 7(4), pages 375-424, September.
    3. Aina, Carmen & Baici, Eliana & Casalone, Giorgia & Pastore, Francesco, 2022. "The determinants of university dropout: A review of the socio-economic literature," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Carmen Aina & Eliana Baici & Giorgia Casalone, 2010. "Time-to-Degree: Students' Abilities, University Characteristics or What Else? Evidence from Italy," Working Papers 130, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont.
    5. Aina, Carmen & Baici, Eliana & Casalone, Giorgia & Pastore, Francesco, 2018. "The Economics of University Dropouts and Delayed Graduation: A Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 11421, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Thomas Bolli & Tommaso Agasisti & Geraint Johnes, 2015. "The impact of institutional student support on graduation rates in US Ph.D. programmes," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(4), pages 396-418, August.
    7. Glocker, Daniela, 2011. "The effect of student aid on the duration of study," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 177-190, February.
    8. Jeffrey T. Denning, 2019. "Born under a Lucky Star: Financial Aid, College Completion, Labor Supply, and Credit Constraints," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(3), pages 760-784.
    9. Sarah R. Cohodes & Joshua S. Goodman, 2014. "Merit Aid, College Quality, and College Completion: Massachusetts' Adams Scholarship as an In-Kind Subsidy," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 251-285, October.
    10. Darolia, Rajeev, 2014. "Working (and studying) day and night: Heterogeneous effects of working on the academic performance of full-time and part-time students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 38-50.
    11. Michael S. Kofoed, 2022. "Pell Grants and Labor Supply: Evidence from a Regression Kink," Upjohn Working Papers 22-363, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    12. Pietro Garibaldi & Francesco Giavazzi & Andrea Ichino & Enrico Rettore, 2012. "College Cost and Time to Complete a Degree: Evidence from Tuition Discontinuities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 699-711, August.
    13. Andreas Behr & Katja Theune, 2016. "The causal effect of off-campus work on time to degree," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 189-209, April.
    14. Christian Belzil & Jörgen Hansen, 2020. "The evolution of the US family income–schooling relationship and educational selectivity," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 841-859, November.
    15. Arcidiacono, Peter & Aucejo, Esteban & Coate, Patrick & Hotz, V. Joseph, 2012. "Affirmative Action and University Fit: Evidence from Proposition 209," IZA Discussion Papers 7000, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Philip Oreopoulos & Uros Petronijevic, 2018. "Student Coaching: How Far Can Technology Go?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 53(2), pages 299-329.
    17. Cohodes, Sarah & Goodman, Joshua, 2012. "First Degree Earns: The Impact of College Quality on College Completion Rates," Working Paper Series rwp12-033, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    18. Denning, Jeffrey T. & Eide, Eric R. & Mumford, Kevin J. & Sabey, Daniel J., 2022. "Decreasing time to baccalaureate degree in the United States," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Eaton, C. & Kulkarni, K. & Birgeneau, Robert & Brady, Henry & Hout, Michael, 2017. "AFFORDING THE DREAM: Student Debt and State Need-Based Grant Aid for Public University Students," University of California at Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education qt24j8945b, Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley.
    20. Paul Attewell & David Monaghan, 2016. "How Many Credits Should an Undergraduate Take?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(6), pages 682-713, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Higher education; Time to degree; Instrumental variables;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:41:y:2014:i:c:p:24-39. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/econedurev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.