IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/labeco/v85y2023ics0927537123001136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of promoting access to community colleges on educational and labor market outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Sie Won

Abstract

Community colleges offer an affordable postsecondary education and serve as a stepping stone to a four-year college degree. However, it is unclear how increased access to community colleges affects educational and labor market outcomes. To investigate this issue, I estimate a structural model of employment and college choices and evaluate policy interventions designed to promote access to community colleges: tuition subsidies and easier transition from two- to four-year colleges. I find that tuition subsidies at two-year colleges increase enrollment in community colleges and the average lifetime income but decrease four-year college degree attainment. In addition, I show that the transfer policy decreases enrollment in both two- and four-year colleges but increases bachelor’s degree attainment for high-ability students.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Sie Won, 2023. "The effect of promoting access to community colleges on educational and labor market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:85:y:2023:i:c:s0927537123001136
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2023.102438
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537123001136
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.labeco.2023.102438?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. Rust, John, 1987. "Optimal Replacement of GMC Bus Engines: An Empirical Model of Harold Zurcher," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(5), pages 999-1033, September.
    2. Jack Mountjoy, 2022. "Community Colleges and Upward Mobility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(8), pages 2580-2630, August.
    3. Oded Gurantz, 2020. "What Does Free Community College Buy? Early Impacts from the Oregon Promise," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(1), pages 11-35, January.
    4. Peter Arcidiacono, 2005. "Affirmative Action in Higher Education: How Do Admission and Financial Aid Rules Affect Future Earnings?," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(5), pages 1477-1524, September.
    5. Lockwood Reynolds, C., 2012. "Where to attend? Estimating the effects of beginning college at a two-year institution," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 345-362.
    6. Susan M. Dynarski, 2003. "Does Aid Matter? Measuring the Effect of Student Aid on College Attendance and Completion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 279-288, March.
    7. Matthew T. Johnson, 2013. "Borrowing Constraints, College Enrollment, and Delayed Entry," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(4), pages 669-725.
    8. Nicholas Trachter, 2015. "Stepping stone and option value in a model of postsecondary education," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 6(1), pages 223-256, March.
    9. Jeffrey T. Denning, 2017. "College on the Cheap: Consequences of Community College Tuition Reductions," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 155-188, May.
    10. repec:mpr:mprres:7891 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Joshua Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Jonathan Smith, 2017. "Access to 4-Year Public Colleges and Degree Completion," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(3), pages 829-867.
    12. Keane, Michael P & Wolpin, Kenneth I, 1997. "The Career Decisions of Young Men," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(3), pages 473-522, June.
    13. Matthew T. Johnson, 2013. "Borrowing Constraints, College Enrollment, and Delayed Entry," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 57fc00235c3a47ff92cb253f9, Mathematica Policy Research.
    14. Nguyen, Hieu, 2020. "Free college? Assessing enrollment responses to the Tennessee Promise program," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    15. Leigh, D. E. & Gill, A. M., 2003. "Do community colleges really divert students from earning bachelor's degrees?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 23-30, February.
    16. Doyle, William R., 2009. "The effect of community college enrollment on bachelor's degree completion," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 199-206, April.
    17. Kevin M. Stange, 2012. "An Empirical Investigation of the Option Value of College Enrollment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 49-84, January.
    18. Anderson, Drew M. & Goldrick-Rab, Sara, 2018. "Aid after enrollment: Impacts of a statewide grant program at public two-year colleges," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 148-157.
    19. Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 1995. "Democratization or Diversion? The Effect of Community Colleges on Educational Attainment," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 217-224, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Declercq, Koen & Verboven, Frank, 2018. "Enrollment and degree completion in higher education without admission standards," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 223-244.
    2. Lutz Hendricks & Oksana Leukhina, 2018. "The Return To College: Selection And Dropout Risk," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 59(3), pages 1077-1102, August.
    3. Lutz Hendricks & Oksana Leukhina, 2017. "How Risky is College Investment?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 26, pages 140-163, October.
    4. Ferreyra,Maria Marta & Garriga,Carlos & Martin,Juan David & Sanchez Diaz,Angelica Maria, 2020. "Raising College Access and Completion : How Much Can Free College Help ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9428, The World Bank.
    5. Elena Mattana & Juanna Joensen, 2016. "Student Aid, Academic Achievement, and Labor Market Behavior," 2016 Meeting Papers 1102, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    6. Elena Mattana & Juanna Joensen, 2014. "Student Aid, Academic Achievement, and Labor Market Behavior: Grants or Loans?," 2014 Meeting Papers 707, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Welch, Jilleah G., 2014. "HOPE for community college students: The impact of merit aid on persistence, graduation, and earnings," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-20.
    8. George Bulman & Robert Fairlie & Sarena Goodman & Adam Isen, 2021. "Parental Resources and College Attendance: Evidence from Lottery Wins," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(4), pages 1201-1240, April.
    9. Yang, Guanyi, 2018. "Endogenous Skills and Labor Income Inequality," MPRA Paper 89638, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Philipp Eisenhauer & James J. Heckman & Stefano Mosso, 2015. "Estimation Of Dynamic Discrete Choice Models By Maximum Likelihood And The Simulated Method Of Moments," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 56(2), pages 331-357, May.
    11. Elizabeth M. Caucutt & Lance Lochner, 2020. "Early and Late Human Capital Investments, Borrowing Constraints, and the Family," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(3), pages 1065-1147.
    12. Peter Arcidiacono & Michael Lovenheim, 2016. "Affirmative Action and the Quality-Fit Trade-Off," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 3-51, March.
    13. Kartik B. Athreya & Felicia Ionescu & Urvi Neelakantan & Ivan Vidangos, 2020. "Who Values Access to College?," Richmond Fed Economic Brief, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue 20-03, pages 1-5, March.
    14. Matsuda, Kazushige & Mazur, Karol, 2022. "College education and income contingent loans in equilibrium," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 100-117.
    15. Rodolfo M. Nayga & Jianhui Liu & Bachir Kassas, 2024. "The looming demographic cliff: A wake‐up call for the agricultural and applied economics profession," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(2), pages 468-484, March.
    16. Sang Yoon (Tim) Lee & Yongseok Shin & Donghoon Lee, 2015. "The Option Value of Human Capital: Higher Education and Wage Inequality," NBER Working Papers 21724, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Lovenoor Aulck & Jevin West, 2017. "Attrition and performance of community college transfers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, April.
    18. Kartik Athreya & Felicia Ionescu & Ivan Vidangos & Urvi Neelakantan, 2018. "Investment Opportunities and Economic Outcomes: Who Benefits From College and the Stock Market?," 2018 Meeting Papers 1151, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    19. Kemptner, Daniel & Tolan, Songül, 2018. "The role of time preferences in educational decision making," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 25-39.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Community college; Tuition subsidy; Dynamic discrete choice model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    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:labeco:v:85:y:2023:i:c:s0927537123001136. 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/labeco .

    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.