Education Commons^™

Pre-K Effectiveness At A Large Scale, Timothy J. Bartik, Brad J. Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.

Pre-K Effectiveness At A Large Scale, Timothy J. Bartik, Brad Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.

Pre-K In The Public Schools: Evidence From Within U.S. States, Timothy J. Bartik, Brad J. Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

In the past 15 years, four-year-olds’ enrollment in state-funded pre-kindergarten in the United States has doubled, and advocates have pushed for further expansion. Although research has shown that pre-K programs can have important benefits, most existing studies have focused on small or state-specific programs that may not generalize to other areas or contexts. The uniqueness of our paper is its scope: our data cover the last two decades, span nearly all states, and allow for intrastate variation. For the average state program, we find no evidence of effects on the average student’s test scores, assignment to special education, or grade …

Degrees Of Poverty: The Relationship Between Family Income Background And The Returns To Education, Timothy J. Bartik, Brad J. Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

Drawing on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we document a startling empirical pattern: the career earnings premium from a four-year college degree (relative to a high school diploma) for persons from low-income backgrounds is considerably less than it is for those from higher-income backgrounds. For individuals whose family income in high school was above 1.85 times the poverty level, we estimate that career earnings for bachelor’s graduates are 136 percent higher than earnings for those whose education stopped at high school. However, for individuals whose family income during high school was below 1.85 times the poverty level, the career …

Learning From A Decade Of College Promise Scholarships, Michelle Miller-Adams, Brad J. Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

The Upjohn Institute hosted a webinar Oct. 26, 2017 to hear from leaders in the place-based, or "promise" college scholarship movement. Funders of promise programs and local and state officials, including Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, spoke on how such programs have benefited their communities and addressed future challenges.

The Merits Of Universal Scholarships: Benefit-Cost Evidence From The Kalamazoo Promise, Timothy J. Bartik, Brad J. Hershbein, Marta Lachowska

Brad J. Hershbein

As higher education costs rise, many communities have begun to adopt their own financial aid strategy: place-based scholarships for students graduating from the local school district. In this paper, we examine the benefits and costs of the Kalamazoo Promise, one of the more universal and more generous place-based scholarships. Building upon estimates of the program's heterogeneous effects on degree attainment, scholarship cost data, and projections of future earnings by education, we examine the Promise’s benefit-cost ratios for students differentiated by income, race, and gender. Although the average rate of return of the program is 11 percent, rates of return vary …

Refining Workforce Education Supply And Demand Analysis: Final Report, Brad J. Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of The Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship On College Enrollment, Persistence, And Completion, Timothy J. Bartik, Brad J. Hershbein, Marta Lachowska

Brad J. Hershbein

We estimate the effects on postsecondary education outcomes of the Kalamazoo Promise, a generous, place-based college scholarship. We identify Promise effects using difference-in-differences, comparing eligible to ineligible graduates before and after the Promise’s initiation. According to our estimates, the Promise significantly increases college enrollment, college credits attempted, and credential attainment. Stronger effects occur for women.

The Road Toward K-12 Excellence In Michigan: How An Upgraded Financing System Can Better Support Enhanced Student Achievement, Kevin Hollenbeck, Timothy J. Bartik, Randall W. Eberts, Brad J. Hershbein, Michelle Miller-Adams

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.

Graduating High School In A Recession: Work, Education, And Home Production, Brad Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.

Worker Signals Among New College Graduates: The Role Of Selectivity And Gpa, Brad J. Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

Recent studies have found a large earnings premium to attending a more selective college, but the mechanisms underlying this premium have received little attention and remain unclear. In order to shed light on this question, I develop a multidimensional signaling model relying on college grades and selectivity that rationalizes students’ choices of effort and firms’ wage-setting behavior. The model is then used to produce predictions of how the interaction of the signals should be related to wages, namely that the return on college GPA should fall the more selective the institution attended. Using five data sets that span the early …

The Distribution Of College Graduate Debt, 1990 To 2008: A Decomposition Approach, Brad J. Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

Brad J. Hershbein

Despite tremendous recent interest in the subject of student debt by both researchers and policy makers, little is known about how the distribution of college graduate debt has been evolving and what factors can explain it. We use National Postsecondary Student Aid Study data from 1990 through 2008 to document the evolution of college graduate debt profiles. We find that growth in debt over the 1990s was rapid and occurred throughout the distribution; during the 2000s, in contrast, debt grew appreciably only for the top quartile. Employing several decomposition techniques, we exploit the richness of the data to explain these …

College Costs: Students Can't Afford Not To Know, Brad J. Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.

A Second Look At Enrollment Changes After The Kalamazoo Promise, Brad J. Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.

Is College The New High School? Evidence From Vacancy Postings, Brad Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

Do firms demand more skilled workers in a slack labor market? We use a new database of job vacancy postings, containing a near-universe of electronic posts in U.S. metro areas, collected by the firm Burning Glass over the period 2010-2013. We find evidence of upskilling – firms demanding more skilled workers – when the local unemployment rate is higher, i.e., in places where the recovery following the Great Recession was slower. Our estimates imply that firms demand three-quarters of a year more schooling on average in a large recession compared to a boom. We find that at least two-thirds of …

Longer-Term Effects Of The Kalamazoo Promise: College Enrollment, Persistence, And Completion, Brad Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

This project will examine the effects of the Kalamazoo Promise on college enrollment, persistence, and completion using merged administrative data sources. The study will employ two approaches for identification: (1) differences-in-differences between eligible and non-eligible students before and after the Promise with and without inverse-probability treatment weights, and (2) propensity score matching of students from neighboring school districts. The study will explore standard heterogeneous treatments by gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status as well as by high school grades and standardized test scores. The study will aim to characterize how the distribution of high school graduates attending college changed as well …

Student Loans: A Multidimensional Public Policy Issue, Brad Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of The Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship On Post-Secondary Educational Attainment: Implications For The Benefits And Costs Of Generous And Universal College Subsidies, Marta Lachowska, Timothy Bartik, Brad Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

In order to study whether universal college scholarships can reduce inequality in education, we study one aspect of the Kalamazoo Promise that resembles a “natural experiment.” We use the fact that the surprise announcement of the scholarship created a large change in expected college tuition costs that varied across different groups of students based on past enrollment decisions. Using a differences-in-differences analysis, we compare the outcomes of Promise-eligible students to ineligible students, before and after the Promise. Outcomes studied include college enrollment, whether the student has obtained a college degree, and after-college earnings. We use the economical and racial diversity …

The Distribution Of College Graduate Debt, 1990-2008: A Decomposition Approach, Brad Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.

Student Loans And The Dynamics Of Debt, Brad Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

Brad J. Hershbein

Introduction [To Student Loans And The Dynamics Of Debt], Brad Hershbein, Kevin Hollenbeck

Brad J. Hershbein

A National Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of Publicly Funded Pre-Kindergarten, Brad J. Hershbein, Timothy J. Bartik

Brad J. Hershbein

A Second Look At Enrollment Changes After The Kalamazoo Promise, Brad Hershbein

Brad J. Hershbein

While previous research has documented how the Kalamazoo Promise, the most prominent and generous place-based college scholarship program, increased enrollment in Kalamazoo Public Schools, this paper qualifies and quantifies the characteristics of students who were induced to enter—or stay—in the district. In particular, it analyzes the origins and destinations, socioeconomic composition, and school-level sorting behavior associated with student flows around the time of the Promise announcement. These dimensions are more subtle than changes in the volume of students or measures of their individual success, but they are equally important to understand for communities exploring the feasibility of place-based scholarships as …

Playing The Admissions Game: Student Reactions To Increasing College Competition, Brad J. Hershbein, John Bound, Bridget T. Long

Brad J. Hershbein

No abstract provided.