Estimates of earnings returns by field of study for-profit schools and community colleges

Christopher Jepsen, Peter Mueser, Kenneth Troske and Kyung-Seong Jeon

Economics of Education Review, 2025, vol. 107, issue C

Abstract: We estimate labor-market returns for students pursuing certificates or associate’s degrees in eight broad fields of study at for-profit institutions and community colleges. The data contain 400,000 students beginning their studies between 2005 and 2012 in one state. We estimate two-step models to address recent econometric concerns with two-way fixed-effects models. Our analyses show important differences in return by field, with similar patterns for for-profit schools and community colleges. Apart from those studying in health fields, returns are generally greater for those attending for-profit schools than those attending community colleges. Higher estimated overall returns for for-profit schools are not primarily due to differences in areas of study.

Keywords: Postsecondary education; Labor-market returns; For-profit schools (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I26 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027277572500055X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:107:y:2025:i:c:s027277572500055x

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2025.102675

Access Statistics for this article

Economics of Education Review is currently edited by E. Cohn

More articles in Economics of Education Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().