Adult Undergraduates and Bachelor's Degree Attainment: How Common Is Completion? And Who Completes?

• In Event: Access, Choice, Enrollment, and College Completion Patterns: Pathways of Underserved Students

Abstract

Adults are a large and increasing proportion of the undergraduate population, but completion among older students has been given little attention. In this paper, I leverage data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in order to inquire into the rates and correlates of college completion among those who enroll at non-traditional ages. I find that roughly 40% of adult college-goers complete a bachelor’s degree. The probability of degree completion varies by socioeconomic background, measured cognitive ability, and early degree expectations. Most striking, however, is a substantial gender effect: women are substantially more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree at older ages, controlling for academic ability, work experience, earlier post-secondary attendance, and early work and childbearing history.

Author

• David Monaghan, Wisconsin HOPE Lab, University of Wisconsin-Madison