LABOR-MARKET RETURNS TO COMMUNITY-COLLEGES - EVIDENCE FOR RETURNING ADULTS

Kane and Rouse (1993) furnish evidence that enrollment in a two-year o r four-4-year-college program increases earnings by 5 to 8 percent per year of college credits, whether or not a degree is earned. This evid ence has provided the intellectual basis for policy recommendations to increase access by adult workers to long-term education and training programs, such as those supplied by community colleges. Yet to be answ ered, however, is the question whether these favorable return estimate s hold for experienced adult workers who return to school. For both A. A. and nondegree community college programs, our results indicate retu rns that are positive and of essentially the same size for returning a dults as they are for continuing high school graduates. Among males in nondegree programs, in fact, returning adults enjoy an incremental ea rnings effect of 8 to 10 percent above that received by continuing stu dents.