A Degree in STEM: What’s the Price? What’s the Cost?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Postsecondary Financial Policy and Earnings Through Multiple Lenses

Abstract

The national demand to increase STEM degree production comes at critical time of limited economic resources in higher education. While prior research has investigated issues related to student debt, institutional expenditures, and STEM degree production as distinct areas of research, our study examines these issues together with the aim of broadening and deepening the conversation around these policy and practice challenges. Using data from national data sources, we examine interrelationships between the price that students pay for undergraduate and graduate degrees in STEM and non-STEM fields as well as the costs that institutions confront to produce these degrees.

Authors

• Rita J. Kirshstein, American Institutes for Research

• Courtney Tanenbaum, American Institutes for Research

• Kristina Lillian Zeiser, American Institutes for Research

• Donna Desrochers, American Institutes for Research