Estimating the Return to College Selectivity over the Career Using Administrative Earning Data

We estimate the monetary return to attending a highly selective college using the College and Beyond (C&B) Survey linked to Detailed Earnings Records from the Social Security Administration (SSA). This paper extends earlier work by Dale and Krueger (2002) that examined the relationship between the college that students attended in 1976 and the earnings they self-reported reported in 1995 on the C&B follow-up survey. In this analysis, we use administrative earnings data to estimate the return to various measures of college selectivity for a more recent cohort of students: those who entered college in 1989. We also estimate the return to college selectivity for the 1976 cohort of students, but over a longer time horizon (from 1983 through 2007) using administrative data. We find that the return to college selectivity is sizeable for both cohorts in regression models that control for variables commonly observed by researchers, such as student high school GPA and SAT scores. However, when we adjust for unobserved student ability by controlling for the average SAT score of the colleges that students applied to, our estimates of the return to college selectivity fall substantially and are generally indistinguishable from zero. There were notable exceptions for certain subgroups. For black and Hispanic students and for students who come from less-educated families (in terms of their parents’ education), the estimates of the return to college selectivity remain large, even in models that adjust for unobserved student characteristics.return to higher education, college quality, payoff to college selectivity

Estimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College: An Application of Selection on Observables and Unobservables

There are many estimates of the effect of college quality on students' subsequent earnings. One difficulty interpreting past estimates, however, is that elite colleges admit students, in part, based on characteristics that are related to their earnings capacity. Since some of these characteristics are unobserved by researchers who later estimate wage equations, it is difficult to parse out the effect of attending a selective college from the students' pre-college characteristics. This paper uses information on the set of colleges at which students were accepted and rejected to remove the effect of unobserved characteristics that influence college admission. Specifically, we match students in the newly colleted College and Beyond (C&B) Data Set who were admitted to and rejected from a similar set of institutions, and estimate fixed effects models. As another approach to adjust for selection bias, we control for the average SAT score of the schools to which students applied using both the C&B and National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972. We find that students who attended more selective colleges do not earn more than other students who were accepted and rejected by comparable schools but attended less selective colleges. However, the average tuition charged by the school is significantly related to the students' subsequent earnings. Indeed, we find a substantial internal rate of return from attending a more costly college. Lastly, the payoff to attending an elite college appears to be greater for students from more disadvantaged family backgrounds.

High-resolution Earth-based lunar radar studies: Applications to lunar resource assessment

The lunar regolith will most likely be a primary raw material for lunar base construction and resource extraction. High-resolution radar observations of the Moon provide maps of radar backscatter that have intensity variations generally controlled by the local slope, material, and structural properties of the regolith. The properties that can be measured by the radar system include the dielectric constant, density, loss tangent, and wavelength scale roughness. The radar systems currently in operation at several astronomical observatories provide the ability to image the lunar surface at spatial resolutions approaching 30 m at 3.8 cm and 12.6 cm wavelengths and approximately 500 m at 70 cm wavelength. The radar signal penetrates the lunar regolith to a depth of 10-20 wavelengths so the measured backscatter contains contributions from the vacuum-regolith interface and from wavelength-scale heterogeneities in the electrical properties of the subsurface material. The three wavelengths, which are sensitive to different scale structures and scattering volumes, provide complementary information on the regolith properties. Aims of the previous and future observations include (1) analysis of the scattering properties associated with fresh impact craters, impact crater rays, and mantled deposits; (2) analysis of high-incidence-angle observations of the lunar mare to investigate measurement of the regolith dielectric constant and hence porosity; (3) investigation of interferometric techniques using two time-delayed observations of the same site, observations that require a difference in viewing geometry less than 0.05 deg and, hence, fortuitous alignment of the Earth-Moon system when visible from Arecibo Observatory

High resolution lunar radar studies: Preliminary results

High resolution radar data for the lunar surface were acquired over 14 sites in June and November 1990 using the new 10 MHz data taking system at the Arecibo Observatory. The raw data collected for each site covers an area approximately 100 by 400 km and will be processed using delay-Doppler techniques into images of backscatter cross section with three fo four independent looks. All observations transmitted a circularly polarized signal and both senses of circular polarization were received containing the polarized and depolarized component of the backscatter signal. The relative power in these two polarizations provides useful information on properties of the surface, in particular surface roughness. The effort to date focused on the initial data analysis with new software written to perform a full synthetic aperture focusing on the raw radar data. This analysis will involve the use of complementary high resolution optical and topographic data sets to aid interpretation of surface scattering mechanisms

Are Long-acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs) a Viable Solution for Adolescents in Rural Eastern North Carolina?

Background: Many of the highest teen pregnancy rates within North Carolina (NC) are in rural counties in the eastern part of the state. Long-acting reversible contraceptives, which include intrauterine devices and the contraceptive implant, are highly effective and can provide contraception for years, offering a possible solution to this problem. / / Purpose: The purpose of this Senior Honors Project was to determine the contraceptive use trends of adolescents and young adults in rural eastern NC. The objectives of this project were to interview key informants about the utilization of LARCs and provider attitudes regarding their recommendation, assess contraceptive choice of adolescents seeking services in the family planning clinic, and identify barriers to access of LARCs. / / Methodology: A program evaluation was conducted at a rural health department in eastern NC in partnership with a public health nurse preceptor. Key informants were identified and interviewed. Also, clients in the family planning clinic were assessed to determine their contraceptive method of choice. / / Findings: Out of 34 family planning clinic clients between the ages of 14-28 years, 7 chose to initiate a LARC method. The health department offered two types of IUDs, but referred the contraceptive implant insertion to a local physician office. The discontinuation rate among one type of IUD high due to side effects experienced after insertion. Key informants believed that IUDs were safe for adolescents to use, but were less likely to recommend an IUD for clients who were nulliparous or had a history of sexually transmitted infection. / / Conclusions: Many clients were unfamiliar with LARCs, so continued community education is needed to increase knowledge and utilization of these methods. Health care professionals must stay current on the However, there were clients who did initiate or were interested in LARC methods.

Underrepresenting Disproportionality : An Interdisciplinary Bibliographic Content Analysis

Students of color and those with disabilities have been disproportionally identified, placed, and disciplined in education. As a result, IDEA 2004 requires states to have policies and procedures in effect to prevent and reduce disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity in the areas of identification, discipline, and placement of children with disabilities. Despite the policies, black students are still 1) suspended or expelled at a rate two-to-three times higher than white students; 2) 2.8 times more likely to be identified as having a high-incidence disability; 3) more likely to be placed in a more restrictive environment. Because these disparities continue to persist, it is critical that both school psychologists and special educators have a thorough understanding of disproportionality and are informed about innovative intervention and prevention strategies for overrepresentation. Literature regarding disproportionality is important for guiding practitioners to address the root causes of disproportionality and develop potential solutions to the problem. For these reasons, the present study was conducted to examine how frequently ten Special Education and School Psychology journals covered the topic of disproportionality. The study revealed that very few articles within the selected journals outlets explicitly focused on racial and ethnic disproportionality, particularly in the area of least restrictive environment. However, discipline was the most widely discussed disproportionality topic, although only one of 3,088 articles discussed Significant Disproportionality. Results suggest an increased focus on disproportionality among the scholarly outlets is warranted, particularly in the areas of least restrictive environment and Significant Disproportionality

Tax Consequences of Joint Ownership of Property

The almost overwhelming trend in recent years toward the use of various forms of joint ownership of property, particularly by husband and wife, is indicative of a widespread failure to realize all the implications of such title-holding devices. A companion article has outlined the general legal attributes of the common forms of joint ownership. However, because the growth in the use of joint tenancy and its kindred has coincided with an increase in the impact of income and death taxes, it has become important also to understand the results of employing these devices in the context of taxation. It is the purpose of this article to point out some of the problems which arise under the federal gift, estate and income taxes, and under the West Virginia inheritance and transfer tax as a result of the use of joint estates in real and personal property

Marshall University Music Department Presents a Faculty Recital, William B. Stacy, French Horn

https://mds.marshall.edu/music_perf/1143/thumbnail.jp

Compensation for Primary Reflector Wavefront Error

The object of the invention is to compensate for errors in a large telescope primary reflector by making certain compensating deviations in a smaller, auxiliary reflector of the telescope. At least one intermediate element forms an image of the primary surface onto the secondary surface, so each point on the secondary surface corresponds to a point on the primary surface. The secondary surface is formed with a deviation from an ideal secondary surface, with the piston distance of each point on the actual secondary surface equal to the piston distance of a corresponding piston on the actual primary surface from the ideal primary surface. It is found that this results in electromagnetic (e.g., light) rays which strike a deviating area of the actual primary surface being brought to the same focus as if the actual primary surface did not have a diviation from an ideal primary surface