Panel:
Adult Postsecondary Participation and Its Lasting Economic Impacts
(Education)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
It has been well-demonstrated that college participation and degree completion are associated with a lifetime of better economic outcomes. Still, the long-term impacts of college enrollment and attainment can vary substantially based on students’ circumstances and decisions, labor market conditions, and policies set by various institutions. Furthermore, how participation affects adult students in particular is not currently well understood. The papers in this panel meet at the intersection of exploring adult participation in postsecondary education, and the long-term effects of that participation.
The first two papers of this panel examine how an individual’s decision to engage (or disengage) in postsecondary education are related to their current and future economic circumstances. Bird et al provide a in-depth descriptive analysis of the employment and earnings trajectories of students who complete some college, but do not earn a degree. They then work to classify the types of individuals who would likely benefit from re-enrollment intervention efforts currently favored by state policy-makers, and outline a process for identifying programs of study that would lead to gainful employment. Minaya, Moore, & Scott-Clayton consider displaced workers who enroll in higher education after experiences a negative employment shock. They find that close to 10% of these displaced workers are enrolled in public two- or four-year colleges in the year after displacement, with the typical enrollment persisting for five semesters, and 33% completing a degree. However, they find that much of this enrollment may have occurred regardless of the displacement.
The next two papers examine the implications for postsecondary participation on long-term financial health. Cellini, Darolia, & Ritter focus on the prevalence of student loan debt among older Americans. The number of Americans over the age of 60 holding student loan debt has quadrupled in the past decade, while the average student debt held nearly doubled. The authors find that debtors are holding onto their debts longer, and also take on new debt later in life. They find that these increased debt burdens impact credit health and utilization among student loan debtors, showing that the impacts of borrowing can last late into life. Finally, Chakrabarti, Gorton, & Lovenheim use variation in state appropriations to estimate the causal impacts on long-term financial outcomes. Their findings indicate that state appropriation shocks students experience in college have long-lasting impacts on their life outcomes into their mid-30s, including debt burdens, credit scores, and home ownership.
