EDUCATION AND THE CHANGING AGE PATTERN OF AMERICAN FERTILITY - 1963-1989

Using pooled data from the 1980, 1985, and 1990 Current Population Sur veys, we describe fertility trends by age and education for the period 1963-1989. Interest focuses on whether the effects of education have changed across this period. We show that women with college degrees ex perienced dramatic shifts toward Inter ages of childbearing. This shif t is consistent with arguments we develop about the increased opportun ity for women to pursue careers and about changes in the availability of child care.