ERIC Number: EJ1488120
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1557-3060
EISSN: EISSN-1557-3079
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Delayed Bachelor's Degree Graduates Have Lower Graduate School Enrollment Rates
Michael D. Bloem
Education Finance and Policy, v20 n4 p704-723 2025
Using nationally representative data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond surveys, I establish a new descriptive finding: Students who take longer than four years to complete their bachelor's degree have significantly lower graduate school enrollment rates compared with students who complete their bachelor's degree in four years, which is the standard for "on-time" graduation. Importantly, I show that students with a different time to degree report having similar expectations for earning a graduate degree in the future when asked during their final year of their bachelor's degree, suggesting that differential graduate school goals do not explain the enrollment gaps. Additional analyses find that these enrollment patterns are driven entirely by differences in full-time enrollment in graduate programs within the first year after completing the bachelor's degree. Delayed graduates are not more or less likely to enroll in part-time graduate degree programs or to initially enroll between one and ten years after completing their bachelor's degree.
Descriptors: Longitudinal Studies, Bachelors Degrees, College Graduates, Time to Degree, Graduate Study, Enrollment Rate
MIT Press. 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. Tel: 617-253-2889; Fax: 617-253-1709; e-mail: journals-rights@mit.edu; Web site: http://www.mitpressjournals.org.bibliotheek.ehb.be/loi/edfp
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (NCES)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

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