Student Engagement and the Economic Returns to Education

1
Student Engagement and the Economic Returns to
Education

• Philip Babcock University of California, Santa
  Barbara
• Mindy MarksUniversity of California, Riverside

2
Motivation

• Wage benefits of college increasing over time.
• But time investment may be measured poorly.
• Does a year of college in the 2000s represent
  same time investment as in previous decades?

3
Agenda

• Investigate changes in study time.
• Disaggregate by major, gender, institution type.
• Re-estimate the wage return to a year of
  college.

4
Data

• 1961 Project Talent
• 1981 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
• 1988 HERI Follow-Up Surveys (FUS)
• 1996 HERI College Student Surveys (CSS)
• 2004 HERI College Student Surveys (CSS)

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Study Time Raw Data
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Study Time - Comparable Datasets
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Study Time - by Demographic Subgroup
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9

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Study Time - by Institution Type
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Men 29-32
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Men 29-32 (Adjusted)
Men 29-32
13

Men 39-42
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Men 39-42 (Adjusted)
Men 39-42
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Implications

• Market failure?
• Wage gains not sufficient incentive to elicit
  greater time investment.
• Engineering disciplines have better maintained
  academic effort. Can practices be generalized?
• Further research on institutional incentives for
  both faculty and students.
• Now more than ever, post-secondary education
  increases productivity.