Economic Returns to Postsecondary Credential Stacking

• In Event: Data in Action: Real-World Case Studies and Partnerships Driving Policy Change

Abstract

Credential stacking represents a potentially promising educational approach for individuals hoping to develop their skills and increase their earnings. Credential stacking occurs when individuals earn multiple related credentials that can be accumulated over time along constant or varied career pathways (Maxwell & Gallagher, 2020; U.S. Department of Labor, 2010). While some individuals may stack their credentials "vertically" within a discipline, others may accrue multiple related, yet non-sequential credentials (i.e., horizontal stacking), or some combination of the two (hybrid stacking; Bailey & Belfield, 2017; Williamson & Pittinsky, 2016). In this paper, we explore participation in and impacts of stacking across and within these different stacking progressions. We further explore the extent to which vertical, horizontal, or hybrid stacking occurs within and between different educational pathways. Finally, we examine heterogeneity within groups for which wage and employment gaps typically occur.

To date, our knowledge of and impacts of credential stacking remain mixed. Early studies show generally positive impacts when students stack within high-demand disciplines (e.g., Audant, 2016; Hahs-Vaughn et al., 2020; Perea, 2020). However, more recent work suggests the size of these benefits and for whom they accrue varies considerably across disciplinary and geographic contexts (Bailey & Belfield, 2017; Daugherty & Anderson, 2021, Meyer et al., 2022). Moreover, benefits tend to accrue heterogeneously across historically marginalized groups (Bohn & McConville, 2018; Meyer et al., 2022; Fox, 2018; Ganzglass, 2014).

In our paper, we leverage administrative postsecondary-to-workforce data from the New Jersey Statewide Data System (NJSDS) to describe the profile of credential stackers and the effects of stacking across subgroups, progressions, and educational pathways. To estimate these effects, we build on canonical work on returns to degrees by implementing student fixed effects models while also incorporating individual time trends (Dynarski et al., 2018). Our work contributes to the broader literature on credential returns and specific literature on stacking in two key ways. First, we introduce the stacking context in a labor market that is nearly universally urban and which interacts dynamically with one of the world’s largest and economically vibrant metropolitan areas. Thus, we contrast our work with existing studies that center on settings that are more rural in scope. Second, we build on recent work (e.g., Daugherty & Anderson, 2020; Meyer et al., 2022) by examining the potential differential labor market impacts by stacking type, including the hybrid approach, and leveraging data that allows exploration of students engaged with the four-year sector, not just community college.

Our results show that that the returns to stacking are empirically moderate, and larger effects tend to acrrue to females and non-white workers, as well as those employed in healthcare professions. We also document that the plaurality of stacking behavior in our context consists of horizontal stacking across multiple associate's degrees. For policy, our findings suggest that, as in New Jersey, statewide systems of higher education can design credential stacking frameworks and pathways that lead to meaningful economic impacts and reduce chronic equity gaps in earnings and employment.

Author

• Matthew A Lenard, Florida State University
  Presenting Author