Who Benefits Most from a University Degree?: A Cross-National Comparison of Selection and Wage Returns in the US, UK, and Germany

Recent research on economic returns to higher education in the United States suggests that those with the highest wage returns to a college degree are least likely to obtain one. We extend the study of heterogeneous returns to tertiary education across multiple institutional contexts, investigating how the relationship between wage returns and the propensity to complete a degree varies by the level of expansion, differentiation, and cost of higher education. Drawing on panel data and matching techniques, we compare findings from the US with selection into degree completion in Germany and the UK. Contrary to previous studies, we find little evidence for population level heterogeneity in economic returns to higher education

Institutional Transfer and the Management of Risk in Higher Education

This study explores the circumstances, behaviors, and understandings that lie at the root of student decisions to reverse transfer (transfer from a four-year institution to a two-year institution). In particular, the authors focus on how students experience and respond to the risks induced by an accumulation of inadequate guidance, misaligned goals, misinformed decisions, and the academic and financial challenges inherent in their college trajectories. Based on qualitative analyses, the authors conclude that the reverse transfer process is inherently an attempt to grapple with the creation, interpretation, and management of the risk of dropping out of college without a four-year degree. Assuming that all students from disadvantaged backgrounds begin college at a four-year school at least somewhat at risk of non-completion, the authors compare the reasons why some are more or less exposed to such risk relative to others of similar circumstances, and how some successfully manage risk in a way that leads to four-year college persistence while others confront risk in a way that leads to reverse transfer

“That Was the Biggest Help”: The Importance of Familial Support for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Community College Students

This study reveals the informal instrumental and socio-emotional support that non-traditional (e.g., Latinx, Black, Indigenous, and first-generation), low-income community college students pursuing STEM majors receive from family members that combat experiences of marginalization and contribute toward their self-efficacy. Family support can be particularly important for underrepresented undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) students who are at higher risks of dropping out of their program and experience lower levels of success indicators (e.g., sense of belonging, self-concept, and STEM identity) compared to their white and Asian peers. Utilizing a phenomenological approach, we used open-ended questions during focus groups with community college transfer students to gain their experiences with challenges and feelings of belonging in college and STEM. We apply the funds of knowledge framework to investigate the value family support holds for students in navigating STEM challenges and expand the definition of family to include romantic partners and extended family. Copyright © 2022 Bueno, Velasquez, Deil-Amen and Jones.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Cultivating hope through creative resistance: Puerto Rican undergraduates surviving the disasters of climate and colonization

This article details what occurred during a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project involving Puerto Rican undergraduates who at first focused their analysis on how their experiences with Hurricane Maria could be framed as resiliency and then eventually adopted a framework of resistance to further capture their actions, stances, and practices in response to government neglect. The YPAR generative process facilitated this emergence of resistance by beginning with the presentation of a cultural artifact and then helping students to use creative and artistic means to critically reflect on their experiences and the ways that not just resiliency, but also resistance captured their analysis of the actions of the people and government actors both immediately after the hurricane and in the long recovery that followed