Working Paper: NBER ID: w10695
Authors: Ronald G. Ehrenberg; Liang Zhang
Abstract: During the last two decades, there has been a significant growth in the share of faculty members at American colleges and universities that are employed in part-time or in full-time non tenure-track positions. Our study is the first to address whether the increased usage of such faculty adversely affects undergraduate students' graduation rates. Using institutional level panel data from the College Board and other sources, our econometric analyses suggest that the increased usage of these faculty types does adversely affect graduation rates of students at 4-year colleges, with the largest impact on students being felt at the public masters-level institutions.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I2; J0; L3
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| increased usage of part-time faculty (J49) | reduction in graduation rates (I24) |
| increased usage of full-time non tenure-track faculty (A29) | reduction in graduation rates (I24) |
| increased usage of part-time faculty at public master's-level institutions (I23) | reduction in graduation rates (I24) |
| increased usage of full-time non tenure-track faculty at public master's-level institutions (I23) | reduction in graduation rates (I24) |