HIGHER EDUCATION COMPLETION AND RELATED FACTORS

John Miller () and Mark Skidmore ()
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John Miller: Central Connecticut State University, Office of the President
Mark Skidmore: Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

Working Papers from UW-Whitewater, Department of Economics

Abstract: In this paper data from all 50 U.S. states are used to examine factors associated with the level of educational attainment in the population. Specifically, this inquiry examines the relationship between the percentage of the adult population aged 25-39 with a college bachelors degree or more and sets of variables logically grouped under one of two categories : production of degree holders and net migration of degree holders. It was hypothesized that the production of college degree holders is related to factors such as the quality of the K-12 educational system, the quality of the higher education system, and homogeneity of the population. Factors related to net migration of college degree holders include measures of the vibrancy of the economy, quality of life, and relative tax burdens. Analysis demonstrated that nearly all of the variation across the states in the percentage of degree holders in the population can be explained by these factors. These findings are useful to both policymakers and education administrators across the states as they seek to understand needs and set the direction of higher education systems.

New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-hrm
Date: 2005-10
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uww:wpaper:05-10

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