Increasing Returns to Education and Progress towards a College Degree

Returns to college have increased, but graduation rates have changed relatively little. Modifying a human capital model of college enrollment to endogenize time-to-graduation, we predict that higher returns to education will both speed graduation and increase enrollment. Some of those new entrants may, however, take longer to graduate. Using the 1989 and 1995 Beginning Postsecondary Studies, we employ a multinomial logit to model the association between individual and family characteristics, and five-year college outcomes: graduation, continued enrollment, and non-enrollment. Between cohort differences arise either because the characteristics of those entering college are different or because the relations between characteristics and outcomes have changed. We utilize a Oaxaca-Blinder style decomposition to distinguish between these two alternatives, attributing differences in characteristics to newly attracted students and differences in the relations between characteristics and outcomes to historically attracted students behaving differently. It is changes in behavior that explain the increased progress we observe.Higher Education, Graduation Rates, Persistence

Reported Progress under the Student Right-to-Know Act: How Reliable is It?

The Student Right-to-Know Act requires colleges to provide institution-specific information on graduation rates for students initially enrolling full-time in the fall term. Not all students enroll in that fashion, especially at two-year institutions. We use data on degree-seeking students from the 1996/2001 Beginning Post-Secondary Survey to identify students for whom statistics are and are not reportable under the Act and to track their progress. Results indicate the published progress rates are substantially higher than the progress rates for the non-reportable populations, whether students enter a two-year or a four-year institution. While progress rates for the two samples are significantly correlated within four-year institutions, they are not within two-year institutions. For those beginning at two-year institutions, the progress rates reported under the Student Right-to-Know Act are indicative of neither their absolute nor their relative (cross-institution) probability of success. Policy makers and prospective students will not make efficient decisions without better information.Efficiency, Resource Allocation, Graduation

An analysis of the current strength of the academic relationship with the aerospace industry

The objective of this research was to discover which methods of technology transfer were most commonly accessed within the Indiana manufacturing sector in an effort to best serve companies in the Hoosier State. Previous work has explored the perceived importance of various academic sources, but there has not been an investigation to identify the specific preferences of industry professionals. If these preferences can be identified, university assistance programs and other academic engagement programs will be able to predict, and hopefully influence how to grow and develop the domestic manufacturing sector, ultimately strengthening the channels of knowledge transfer between academia and industry. In order to properly assess the current preferred methods of technology transfer and the industrial interaction with academia, a survey was conducted with a highly technical company to establish the magnitude of the dependence industry has on academia, as well as the magnitude of any partnerships that may exist. A five (5) question survey was disseminated to R&D; and engineering personnel at the Rolls-Royce facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. Rolls-Royce was chosen as the focal point for this study due to their large employment population, R&D; capabilities, and the breadth of their manufacturing abilities. The data obtained from the survey contained current usage rates, as well as the hypothetical usage estimates for academic resources and found that online encyclopedias, as opposed to pure academic resources, are the most preferred source of technical information among the participants. The results of this study were then used to infer possible solutions to the shortcomings of the status quo, and to suggest what changes could be made to strengthen the academic partnerships that most positively impact industry

Gender and Perceived Severity of Informal Sanctions: A Case Study of Convicted DUI Offenders in Cass County, North Dakota

The use of informal sanctions as deterrents to socially undesirable behavior is not new. Particularly at a time when individuals (especially public figures) are subject to growing scrutinization, the breadth of public censure is expanding to envelop a seemingly wider array of moral and legal violations. Minor law-breakers, too, are being made increasingly aware of the public\u27s social monitoring role a role which functions as a dynamic reference point by which individuals, on the basis of certain actions, are deemed to be deviant or respectable (Douglas, 1970). What is relatively new, however, is the formalization of the informal sanction ; that is, for less serious crimes, the formal imposition of what Garfinkel (1956) has termed degradation ceremonies , using public recourse as the primary sanctioning agent. In colonial times, violators were publicly displayed in stocks, where social disapproval by one\u27s peers could be visibly vented. Today, courts appear to be resurrecting the informal sanction to provide a second line of defense to supplement the formal system of surveillance and punishment (Snortum, 1988). As in earlier times, the function today is essentially twofold: to sanction the offender and to reinforce existing norms. Of primary interest is the effect such sanctions have on various offenders, since each individual will be subjected to varying degrees of informal sanctioning based upon their own perception of how selected members of society (i.e, significant others, reference groups, etc.) view their offense (for a discussion of the looking glass self, see Cooley, 1902). Obviously, the nature of the violation also impacts how the actor will be perceived; situational contexts, such as the option of alternative actions, are also primary consider ations (McHugh, 1970). However, among the most influential factors which initially impact the social construction of deviance are offender characteristics (Kitsuse, 1962;Becker, 1963). Of these, respectability, age, and sex are among the most studied, perhaps because they constitute the most observable attributes which comprise one\u27s social identity (Goffman, 1963)

The Civil Justice System and the Public Project: Family Court- Coast to Coast

The Civil Justice System and the Public is a collaborative research program founded on the belief that a lack of effective communication both within the system and between that system and the public, is a significant barrier interfering with access to justice. This research is designed to involve both the public and the justice community in identifying changes in communication practice that will improve the system. The goal of the project is to make specific and clear recommendations for effective change that will ultimately improve access to the civil justice system by increasing the ability of the system to hear, involve, and respond to the public

Some Facts and Figures from the Civil Justice System and the Public

The Civil Justice System and the Public (CJSP) was a collaborative research program founded on the belief that a lack of effective communication, both within the system and between the system and the public, is a significant barrier interfering with access to justice. The research involved both the public and the justice community in identifying changes in communication practice that will improve the system. The project goal was to make specific and clear recommendations for effective change that will ultimately improve access to the civil justice system by increasing the ability of the system to hear, involve, and respond to the public

Nest sanitation behavior does not increase the likelihood of parasitic egg rejection in herring gulls

Birds’ behavioral response to brood parasitism can be influenced not only by evolution but also by context and individual experience. This could include nest sanitation, in which birds remove debris from their nests. Ultimately, nest sanitation behavior might be an evolutionary precursor to the rejection of parasitic eggs. Proximately, the context or experience of performing nest sanitation behavior might increase the detection or prime the removal of parasitic eggs, but evidence to date is limited. We tested incubation-stage nests of herring gulls Larus argentatus to ask whether nest sanitation increased parasitic egg rejection. In an initial set of 160 single-object experiments, small, red, blocky objects were usually rejected (18 of 20 nests), whereas life-sized, 3D-printed herring gull eggs were not rejected whether red (0 of 20) or the olive-tan base color of herring gull eggs (0 of 20). Next, we simultaneously presented a red, 3D-printed gull egg and a small, red block. These nests exhibited frequent nest sanitation (small, red block removed at 40 of 48 nests), but egg rejection remained uncommon (5 of those 40) and not significantly different from control nests (5 of 49) which received the parasitic egg but not the priming object. Thus, performance of nest sanitation did not shape individuals’ responses to parasitism. Interestingly, parents were more likely to reject the parasitic egg when they were present as we approached the nest to add the experimental objects. Depending on the underlying mechanism, this could also be a case of experience creating variation in responses to parasitism