An Examination of Academic, Financial, and Societal Factors Impacting the Decision to Delay Entry to College and Subsequent Workforce Implications

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Butler, Rebecca A.
Language:	English
Published:	Ohio University / OhioLINK 2016
Subjects:	Higher Education Administration college access delayed entry to college bachelor degree completion enrollment timing enrollment and workforce
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1458735343

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ohiou14587353432021-08-03T06:35:05Z An Examination of Academic, Financial, and Societal Factors Impacting the Decision to Delay Entry to College and Subsequent Workforce Implications Butler, Rebecca A. Higher Education Administration college access delayed entry to college bachelor degree completion enrollment timing enrollment and workforce While there is an extensive and rich body of research on issues and factors associated with college enrollment decisions, as well as significant data regarding the declining position of the United States globally in bachelor’s degree attainment, there is still much to learn regarding the factors that lead to, or inhibit, college access and eventual bachelor’s degree completion. The most recent evidence from the latest student longitudinal study from the National Center for Education Statistics, the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002) finds that only 6% of those graduates who began their postsecondary education 13 or more months following high school graduation had earned a bachelor’s degree, compared to 42% who began college immediately after high school graduation. This study aims to expand upon the existing body of research on the factors that may influence a student to delay entry to college, and provides a foundational perspective of how delayed entry students perform in the labor market in terms of income and occupation. This study adds to the body of knowledge in the field in several important ways in that it expands Perna’s (2000) econometric model framework by including a new, robust set of factors associated with St. John, Hu, and Fisher’s (2011) academic capital construct; it broadens the financial aid factors and their possible effect on delayed entry; the study provides a baseline assessment of how delayed entry students perform in the labor market in terms of income and occupation; and this comprehensive study on delayed entry students utilizes the most recent national dataset available, ELS: 2002, to determine if the outcomes and trends from previous seminal research on non-traditional enrollment (Hearn, 1992; Perna, 2000; Rowan-Kenyon, 2007) are prevalent in this newest longitudinal dataset. This study uses two primary theoretical constructs: academic capital (St. John, Hu, & Fisher, 2011), and cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986). It also draws significantly from rational choice/college choice theories (Manski, 1993; Manski & Wise, 1983; Scott, 2007; and Hossler, Braxton, & Coopersmith, 1989) to frame the issue of delayed entry within the overall college enrollment decision matrix. The data in this study is from the base year and the third follow-up student surveys of the National Center for Education Statistics Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002) and descriptive and inferential statistics analysis results show that of the entire ELS: 2002 dataset, 21% or 2,321 students delayed entry to college, and consistent with previous research (Carroll, 1989; Eckland & Henderson, 1981; Hearn, 1992; Perna, 2000; Rowan-Kenyon, 2007), Black and Hispanic students are more likely to delay. Of those that delayed entry, the primary significant factors that impact delayed entry to college are familial education attainment, student self-expectations of degree attainment, high school environment, and college cost related factors. With respect to the labor market, delayed students in comparison to their immediate entry peers earn 28% less and are less likely to hold professional or managerial positions. 2016-07-08 English text Ohio University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1458735343 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1458735343 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Higher Education Administration college access delayed entry to college bachelor degree completion enrollment timing enrollment and workforce
spellingShingle	Higher Education Administration college access delayed entry to college bachelor degree completion enrollment timing enrollment and workforce Butler, Rebecca A. An Examination of Academic, Financial, and Societal Factors Impacting the Decision to Delay Entry to College and Subsequent Workforce Implications
author	Butler, Rebecca A.
author_facet	Butler, Rebecca A.
author_sort	Butler, Rebecca A.
title	An Examination of Academic, Financial, and Societal Factors Impacting the Decision to Delay Entry to College and Subsequent Workforce Implications
title_short	An Examination of Academic, Financial, and Societal Factors Impacting the Decision to Delay Entry to College and Subsequent Workforce Implications
title_full	An Examination of Academic, Financial, and Societal Factors Impacting the Decision to Delay Entry to College and Subsequent Workforce Implications
title_fullStr	An Examination of Academic, Financial, and Societal Factors Impacting the Decision to Delay Entry to College and Subsequent Workforce Implications
title_full_unstemmed	An Examination of Academic, Financial, and Societal Factors Impacting the Decision to Delay Entry to College and Subsequent Workforce Implications
title_sort	examination of academic, financial, and societal factors impacting the decision to delay entry to college and subsequent workforce implications
publisher	Ohio University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2016
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1458735343
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An Examination of Academic, Financial, and Societal Factors Impacting the Decision to Delay Entry to College and Subsequent Workforce Implications

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