Grades are the fundamental currency of our educational system; they signal academic achievement and noncognitive skills to parents, employers, postsecondary gatekeepers, and students themselves. Grade inflation compromises the signaling value of grades and undermines their capacity to achieve the functions for which they are intended. We challenge…

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…

Characteristics of graduates who completed bachelor's degrees within 4 years of high school graduation were compared with graduates who took longer than 4 years. Data were obtained from the Postsecondary School Transcripts Study, a supplement to the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. The sample consisted of 4,440…

Based on data from the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972, this study confirmed the financial value of the baccalaureate degree, in comparison with the high school diploma, and well-known differences in income to graduates by field of study. Differences by type of higher education institution were relatively smaller. (Author/MSE)

First jobs and career attainments soon after graduation of college graduates with baccalaureate degrees in the humanities were studied. Outcomes for humanities majors were also compared to social science, business, and education majors, as well as graduates who majored in interdisciplinary studies in the liberal arts and sciences. Data were…

This study examined the impact of work and family roles on the probability of students in early adulthood completing the associate or baccalaureate degree. It also looked at the effect of gender on degree completion and differences between adult associate and baccalaureate degree seekers. The study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of…

Courses taken for the bachelor's degrees are examined for specific majors and overall fields of study (i.e., education, humanities, social sciences, quantitative fields, and business). Analyses are based on college transcripts of 4,440 participants in the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. Majors in quantitative fields…

The relationship between starting wage rates and level of education attained by young adults was studied, based on findings of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. According to 1972-1979 data, the greater the educational attainment of the young adults, the higher their starting wage rates. Although the wage rates of…

A longitudinal study of the educational paths of humanities majors was conducted with a sample of high school seniors who participated in the National Longitudinal Study (NLS) of the High School Class of 1972. Comparisons to the 1980 NLS seniors cohort were also made. Students completed a survey as seniors as well as four follow-up surveys. The…

The postsecondary educational plans of black and white high school seniors in the class of 1972 were compared with those in the same racial classification in the class of 1980. Data were extracted from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 and from the survey entitled, "High School and Beyond." In order to test…

As part of the National Longitudinal Study (NLS) of the High School Class of 1972, NLS respondents who went to college, dropped out, returned, and graduated on schedule are analyzed in detail. Information was obtained from the base year and the first three follow-up surveys of the NLS. Findings include the following: whereas 41 percent of the…

A summary is presented of some of the results from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School of 1972, which examined the vocational activities, plans, aspirations, and attitudes of young adults after they leave high school, along with their postsecondary experiences and family and community activities. By October 1979, about one-fourth of…