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Timing Matters: How Delaying College Enrollment Affects Earnings Trajectories

By Yuxin Lin & Vivian Yuen Ting Liu

High school graduates often delay college enrollment, but few studies have looked at the effects of this choice on their educational attainment and success in the labor market. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this paper compares the academic and labor market outcomes of high school graduates who delay college enrollment (“delayers”) and those who enroll in college immediately (“on-time enrollees”) up to 13 years after high school completion.

The results show that delaying college enrollment decreases individuals’ likelihood of enrolling in college and increases their tendency to enroll in two-year colleges if they do return to school. Delayers experience early earnings benefits, but these fade out after their mid-20s and turn to significant losses over time. Differences in student characteristics only explain one third of the pay gap between delayers and on-time enrollees; 60% of the pay gap is explained by delayers’ reduced likelihood of attending and obtaining a degree at a four-year college.

Download CCRC Working Paper No. 105
February 2019
  • Next Frontier Guided Pathways Research: Studying the Effects of Pathways Reforms

Related Publications

August 2020

Labor Market Trajectories for Community College Graduates: New Evidence Spanning the Great Recession

Related Presentations

March 2018

Timing Matters: Examining the Earnings Trajectories of Delayed College Enrollees

Additional Resources

For more policy briefs and fact sheets, visit CCRC’s Policy Resources page.

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