Advanced Degrees Generate High Labor Market Returns but Outcomes Can Vary, Says AccessLex Institute Research Report

WEST CHESTER, Pa., Feb. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AccessLex Institute has released a timely research brief titled, After Graduate and Professional School: How Students Fare in the Labor Market. The brief explores employment and earnings outcomes among advanced degree recipients and examines these outcomes across degree, occupational and demographic categories. On average, advanced degrees are valuable in the labor market, but students pursuing a graduate or professional degree face considerable uncertainty. The information provided here is critical for prospective students and others seeking to assess the value of graduate-level degree programs.

This is the fifth and final report in a series of research briefs in collaboration with the Urban Institute examining access, enrollment, financing, completion and outcomes of graduate and professional education. The reports, including Who Goes to Graduate School and Who Succeeds, How Much Students Pay, How Students Pay and How Much Students Borrow were authored by Sandy Baum, Ph.D., senior fellow in the Education Policy Program at the Urban Institute; and Patricia Steele, Ph.D., founder and principal consultant at Higher Ed Insight.

As noted in the first brief in the series, about a quarter of students who enroll in graduate and professional degree programs leave school without earning a degree. And among those who complete their studies, outcomes vary considerably based on type of degree, field of study and occupation, as well as race, ethnicity and gender. This final brief in the series examines what advanced degrees have meant for the professional lives of those who have attained them.

"Concerns about student debt most often focus on undergraduate students, but graduate and professional degree students have the highest borrowing rates and highest average debt. Therefore, discussions of labor market outcomes are very important," said Aaron N. Taylor, Executive Director of the AccessLex Center for Legal Education Excellence. "And at a time when various reforms to the federal student loan program are being proposed, including some that would impact access to graduate and professional school, better insight about the value and payoff of these degrees is critical."

All five briefs in the series, including the most recent After Graduate and Professional School: How Students Fare in the Labor Market, can be viewed at AccessLex.org.

About AccessLex Institute: AccessLex Institute® fosters broad-based access to quality legal education for talented, purpose-driven students and works to maximize the value and affordability of a law degree through research, policy advocacy and student-focused initiatives. AccessLex Institute is a nonprofit organization with offices in West Chester, PA, and Washington, DC, and with accredited financial counselors throughout the US. Learn more at AccessLex.org.

Contact: Amy Dardinger, 1-847-415-9321

SOURCE AccessLex Institute