Sheepskin Effects in Higher Education

The Institute for Research on Poverty hosts seminars on the UW-Madison campus most Thursdays during the academic year. These presentations are free and open to the public. Room 8417.

media release: Ben Ost, associate professor, Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago

College enrollment is a critical pathway for economic mobility and despite steeply increasing tuition, it remains a strong economic investment on average. Though the average benefits are known to be large, there is surprisingly little causal evidence on whether college dropouts benefit from having attended some college or if the benefits of college are driven entirely by graduates. This presentation will examine if the earnings benefits are mostly driven by graduates, which would suggest that college enrollment is a risky investment given the 63% graduation rate and the even lower graduation rate among disadvantaged groups. These distinctions are critical for much of higher education and K–12 policy.