Educational Outcomes of Occupational Postsecondary Students

This report examines whether postsecondary occupational students, particularly at the sub-baccalaureate level, are more likely than other types of postsecondary students to achieve their educational goals. The authors first analyze what proportion of occupational students who set out to earn a particular certificate or degree actually complete that credential. They then compare these findings with similar findings for postsecondary students enrolled in academic programs. Section II reviews the research literature related to postsecondary persistence and completion. Section III discusses how the authors identified the three groups of students and briefly describes similarities and differences among the samples used. Section IV provides a descriptive analysis of the student groups and describes retention and college completion for each group, and the variables used in the analyses. Section V specifies the empirical approach, discusses findings, and extends the analysis to focus on the effect of occupational education on special populations, such as academically and economically disadvantaged associate students. Section VI provides an analysis of one- and three-year persistence rates, with an emphasis on occupational students seeking associate degrees. It also discusses the findings and integrates them with those from the completion analyses of section V. Finally, the authors summarize our findings and discuss policy implications in section VII. A version of this report was published as an article, “The Educational Outcomes of Occupational Sub-Baccalaureate Students: Evidence from the 1990s,” in The Economics of Education, vol. 24.