This article reviews the existing literature on the economic and other benefits of attending community college. First, the article reports on the earnings gains across all students and reviews the evidence for subgroups by gender, minority status, and credits accumulated. The article then reviews the methodological challenges associated with calculating earnings gains from attending a community college. Despite these challenges, the evidence for the significant earnings gains from community college attendance appears to be compelling. The second part of the article reviews the literature on a broader spectrum of gains, such as health, crime, and welfare reliance. This literature is very limited and potentially offers an important area for further research to establish the full returns from community college attendance.
Abraham, K.G., & Spletzer, J.R. (2009, January). New evidence on the returns to job skills. Paper presented at the 2009 conference of the American Economic Association, San Francisco, CA.
2.
Albrecht, D.E., & Albrecht, S.G. (2009). Economic restructuring, the educational income gap, and overall income inequality. Sociological Spectrum, 29, 519-547.
3.
Alfonso, M. ( 2006). The impact of community college attendance on baccalaureate attainment. Research in Higher Education, 47, 873-903.
4.
Arcidiacono, P. ( 2004). Ability sorting and the returns to college major. Journal of Econometrics, 121, 343-375.
5.
Attewell, P., & Lavin, D.E. (with Domina, T., & Levey, T.). (2007). Passing the torch: Does higher education for the disadvantaged pay off across the generations?New York, NY: Russell Sage.
6.
Averett, S., & Dalessandro, S. (2001). Racial and gender differences in the returns to 2-year and 4-year degrees. Education Economics , 9, 281-292.
7.
Backlund, E., Sorlie, P.D., & Johnson, N.J. ( 1999). A comparison of the relationships of education and income with mortality: The National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Social Science and Medicine, 49, 1373-1384.
8.
Bailey, T., Kienzl, G.S., & Marcotte, D.E. (2004). The return to a sub-baccalaureate education: The effects of schooling, credentials, and program of study on economic outcomes. New York, NY: Columbia University, Teachers College, Community College Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/sectech/nave/subbac-ed.pdf
9.
Belfield, C. R., & Levin, H. M. (Eds.). (2007). The price we pay: Economic and social consequences of inadequate education. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
10.
Black, D.A., Kolesnikova, N., & Taylor, L. ( 2009). Earnings functions when wages and prices vary by location . Journal of Labor Economics, 27, 21-47.
11.
Black, D.A., & Smith, J.A. ( 2006). Estimating the returns to college quality with multiple proxies for quality. Journal of Labor Economics, 24, 701-728.
12.
Bollinger, C.R., & Hirsch, B.T. ( 2006). Match bias from earnings imputation in the Current Population Survey: The case of imperfect matching. Journal of Labor Economics , 24, 483-520.
13.
Bowen, W.G., Chingos, M.M., & McPherson, M.S. (2009). Crossing the finish line: Completing college at America’s public universities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
14.
Calcagno, J.C., Bailey, T., Jenkins, D., Kienzl, G.S., & Leinbach, D.T. (2008). Community college student success: What institutional characteristics make a difference? Economics of Education Review, 27, 632-645.
15.
Card, D. ( 1999). The causal effect of education on earnings. In O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (Eds.), Handbook of labor economics (Vol. 3, pp. 1801-1863). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: North-Holland.
16.
Card, D., & Lemieux, T. ( 2001). Can falling supply explain the rising return to college for younger men? A cohort-based analysis. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116, 705-746.
17.
Cheng, T. ( 2006). Children’s access to four medical services: Impact of welfare policies, social structural factors, and family resources. Children and Youth Services Review, 28, 595-609.
18.
Cutler, D.M., & Lleras-Muney, A. (2010). Understanding differences in health behaviors by education. Journal of Health Economics , 29, 1-28. doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2009.10.003
19.
Dahl, G.B. ( 2002). Mobility and the return to education: Testing a Roy model with multiple markets. Econometrica, 70, 2367-2420.
20.
Dale, S.B., & Krueger, A.B. ( 2002). Estimating the payoff to attending a more selective college: An application of selection on observables and unobservables. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117, 1491-1527.
21.
Dee, T.S. ( 2004). Are there civic returns to education? Journal of Public Economics, 88, 1697-1720.
22.
Del Rossi, A.F., & Hersch, J. ( 2008). Double your major, double your return? Economics of Education Review, 27, 375-386.
23.
Farrington, D.P. ( 2003). Developmental and life-course criminology: Key theoretical and empirical issues. Criminology, 41, 221-255.
24.
Ferrer, A.M., & Riddell, W.C. ( 2002). The role of credentials in the Canadian labour market . Canadian Journal of Economics35, 879-905.
25.
Ferrer, A.M., & Riddell, W.C. ( 2008a). Education, credentials and immigrant earnings. Canadian Journal of Economics, 41, 186-216.
26.
Ferrer, A.M., & Riddell, W.C. ( 2008b, November). Understanding "sheepskin effects" in returns to education: The role of cognitive skills. Paper presented at the Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network Workshop, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
27.
Fortin, N.M. ( 2006). Higher education policies and the college wage premium: Cross-state evidence from the 1990s. American Economic Review , 96, 959-987.
28.
Gill, A.M., & Leigh, D.E. ( 2000). Community college enrollment, college major, and the gender wage gap. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 54, 163-181.
29.
Gill, A.M., & Leigh, D.E. ( 2003). Do the returns to community colleges differ between academic and vocational programs? Journal of Human Resources, 38, 134-155.
30.
Grogger, J.T. ( 2004). Welfare transitions in the 1990s: The economy, welfare policy, and the EITC. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management , 23, 671-695.
31.
Grubb, W.N. ( 1993). The varied economic returns to postsecondary education: New evidence from the class of 1972. Journal of Human Resources , 28, 365-382.
32.
Grubb, W.N. ( 1995). Response to comment. Journal of Human Resources, 30, 222-228.
33.
Grubb, W.N. ( 1997). The returns to education in the sub-baccalaureate labor market, 1984-1990. Economics of Education Review, 16, 231-245.
34.
Grubb, W.N. ( 2002a). Learning and earning in the middle, Part I: National studies of pre-baccalaureate education. Economics of Education Review, 21, 299-321.
35.
Grubb, W.N. ( 2002b). Learning and earning in the middle, Part II: State and local studies of pre-baccalaureate education. Economics of Education Review, 21, 401-414.
36.
Hamermesh, D.S., & Donald, S.G. ( 2008). The effect of college curriculum on earnings: An affinity identifier for non-ignorable response bias. Journal of Econometrics , 144, 479-491.
37.
Harlow, C.W. ( 2003). Education and correctional populations (NCJ No. 195670) . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved from http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ecp.pdf
38.
Heckman, J.J., & LaFontaine, P.A. (2006). Bias-corrected estimates of GED returns. Journal of Labor Economics, 24, 661-700.
39.
Heckman, J.J., Lochner, L.J., & Todd, P.E. ( 2008). Earnings functions and rates of return. Journal of Human Capital, 2, 1-31.
40.
Hilmer, M.J. ( 2002). Human capital attainment, university quality, and entry-level wages for college transfer students. Southern Economic Journal , 69, 457-469.
41.
Hirsch, B.T. ( 2008). Wage gaps large and small. Southern Economic Journal, 74, 915-933.
42.
Hollenbeck, K. ( 1993). Postsecondary education as triage: Returns to academic and technical programs. Economics of Education Review, 12, 213-232.
43.
Ishikawa, M., & Ryan, D. ( 2002). Schooling, basic skills and economic outcomes. Economics of Education Review, 21, 231-243.
44.
Jacobson, L.S., LaLonde, R.J., & Sullivan, D.G. (2005a). The impact of community college retraining on older displaced workers: Should we teach old dogs new tricks? Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 58, 398-416.
45.
Jacobson, L.S., LaLonde, R.J., & Sullivan, D.G. (2005b). Estimating the returns to community college schooling for displaced workers. Journal of Econometrics, 125, 271-304.
46.
Jacobson, L.S., & Mokher, C. ( 2009). Pathways to boosting the earnings of low-income students by increasing their educational attainment. Washington, DC: Hudson Institute Center for Employment Policy. Retrieved from http://www.hudson.org/files/publications/Pathways%20to%20Boosting.pdf
47.
Jaeger, D.A., & Page, M.E. ( 1996). Degrees matter: New evidence on sheepskin effects in the returns to education. Review of Economics and Statistics , 78, 733-40.
48.
Jepsen, C., Troske, K., & Coomes, P. ( 2009). The labor market returns to community college degrees, diplomas and certificates (Discussion Paper Series 2009-08). Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research. Retrieved from http://www.ukcpr.org/Publications/DP2009-08.pdf
49.
Kane, T.J., & Rouse, C.E. ( 1995a). Labor-market returns to two- and four-year college. American Economic Review, 85, 600-614.
50.
Kane, T.J., & Rouse, C.E. ( 1995b). Comment on W. Norton Grubb: "The varied economic returns to postsecondary education: New evidence from the class of 1972." Journal of Human Resources, 30, 205-221.
51.
Leigh, D.E., & Gill, A.M. ( 1997). Labor market returns to community colleges: Evidence for returning adults. Journal of Human Resources, 32, 334-353.
52.
Light, A. ( 1995). The effects of interrupted schooling on wages. Journal of Human Resources, 30, 472-502.
53.
Light, A., & Strayer, W. ( 2004). Who receives the college wage premium? Assessing the labor market returns to degrees and college transfer patterns. Journal of Human Resources, 39, 746-773.
54.
Lleras-Muney, A. ( 2005). The relationship between education and adult mortality in the United States. Review of Economic Studies, 72, 189-221.
55.
Lochner, L., & Moretti, E. ( 2004). The effect of education on crime: Evidence from prison inmates, arrests, and self-reports. American Economic Review , 94, 155-189.
56.
London, R.A. ( 2006). The role of postsecondary education in welfare recipients’ paths to self-sufficiency. Journal of Higher Education, 77, 472-496.
57.
Long, B.T., & Kurlaender, M. (2008). Do community colleges provide a viable pathway to a baccalaureate degree? (NBER Working Paper No. 14367). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
58.
Long, M.C. ( 2008). College quality and early adult outcomes. Economics of Education Review, 27, 588-602.
59.
Marcotte, D.E., Bailey, T., Borkoski, C., & Kienzl, G.S. ( 2005). The returns of a community college education: Evidence from the National Education Longitudinal Survey. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 27, 157-175.
60.
Rank, M.R., & Hirschl, T.A. ( 2005). Likelihood of using food stamps during the adulthood years. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 37, 137-146.
61.
Reynolds, C.L. ( 2006). Where to attend? Estimates of the effects of beginning at a two-year college (Working Paper). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
62.
Rouse, C.E. ( 1995). Democratization or diversion? The effect of community colleges on educational attainment. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 13, 217-224.
63.
Rouse, C.E. ( 2007). Consequences for the labor market. In C. R. Belfield & H. M. Levin (Eds.), The price we pay: Economic and social consequences of inadequate education (pp. 99-124). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
64.
Sandy, J., Gonzalez, A., & Hilmer, M.J. ( 2006). Alternative paths to college completion: Effect of attending a two-year school on the probability of completing a four-year degree. Economics of Education Review, 25, 463-471.
65.
Schmitt, J., & Baker, D. ( 2006). The impact of undercounting in the Current Population Survey. Washington, DC: Center for Economic Policy and Research.
66.
Spetz, J. ( 2002). The value of education in a licensed profession: The choice of associate or baccalaureate degrees in nursing. Economics of Education Review, 21, 73-85.
67.
Steinberg, J. ( 2010, May 15). Plan B: Skip college. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/weekinreview/16steinberg.html
68.
Surette, B.J. ( 2001). Transfer from two-year to four-year college: An analysis of gender differences. Economics of Education Review, 20, 151-163.
69.
Waldfogel, J., Garfinkel, I., & Kelly, B. ( 2007). Welfare and the costs of public assistance. In C. R. Belfield & H. M. Levin (Eds.), The price we pay. Economic and social consequences of inadequate education (pp. 160-174). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
70.
Wallace, G.L. ( 2007). Welfare flows and caseload dynamics. Journal of Applied Economics, 10, 415-442.
71.
Wolfe, B., & Zuvekas, S. ( 1997). Nonmarket outcomes of schooling. International Journal of Education Research, 27, 491-502.
