The Value of College Coursework

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

A growing literature examines the return to college major, showing large differences in labor market outcomes based on one’s field of study. However, the courses one takes to complete a major represent a minority of courses taken in college. Are the returns to college major the dominant way through which courses translate into labor market returns, or are there returns more broadly to different courses students take in college? The answer to this question has much policy relevance. For institutional leaders, it is essential to understand the labor market value of different courses in order to be able to focus resources on areas that best support student labor market outcomes. From a student perspective, information on where the returns are highest to different courses is important to maximizing the value of their higher education investment. As well, the returns to non-major coursework are important to understand in order to develop regulations around the number of courses students need to take to obtain a degree.

This panel contains four papers that provide new evidence on this important question. Three of the papers use new administrative data from Texas that contains the courses each student takes linked to their pre-collegiate K-12 records and their subsequent labor market outcomes. Two of these papers explore different dimensions of course-level returns in the four-year sector, while another examines this question in the two-year sector. The fourth paper estimates the value of a liberal arts education specifically, using merged transcript data from seven public, four-year universities. Together, these papers provide the most comprehensive picture to date on the value of college coursework, to the skills students learn in different classes, and to the return to a liberal arts education.

Policy Area

• Education

Chair

• Michael Lovenheim, Cornell University

Discussant

• Zachary Bleemer, Princeton University

Organizer

• Michael Lovenheim, Cornell University

Individual Presentations

• The Return to College Coursework - Presenting Author: Scott Imberman, Michigan State University

• Does Coursework Matter? Uncovering the Role of Skills in the Returns to College - Presenting Author: Yaling Xu, Cornell University

• Community College Course Content and Student Outcomes - Presenting Author: Zhengren Zhu, Vassar College

• Developing Skills for Living in a Diverse and Democratic Society: The Role of Liberal Arts Education - Presenting Author: Kevin Stange, University of Michigan