Beyond Late Graduation: Timing of College Initiation and Graduation and Post-College Wages

• In Event: 30620 - Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 1: Education, Poverty, and Inequality

Abstract

College education predicts wage advantages, but substantial inequality exists among college graduates, prompting some scholars to explore other factors, including educational timing. Strong norms about timing and pace may shape perceptions of college attainment which can operate as a signal to employers with consequences for “late” graduates, but different pathways to late graduation and social contexts such as historical period and gender may result in different meanings and consequences. I use data from college graduates in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort to explore two pathways to late graduation – delayed initiation and extended duration of college – and their relation to post-college wages. I find no association between either pathway and post-college wages, suggesting a need for careful reconsideration of the mechanisms and outcomes emphasized in theoretical work on the subject. In particular, I emphasize that historical time and context may shift the meanings or applicability of educational signals. I discuss further opportunities to probe the implications of diverse college pathways for wage outcomes across working life.

Author

• Virginia Leiter, Pennsylvania State University