Jennie E. Brand's Books

Overcoming the Odds

The Benefits of Completing College for Unlikely Graduates

By: Jennie E. Brand

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Overcoming the Odds

The Benefits of Completing College for Unlikely Graduates

By: Jennie E. Brand

Each year, millions of high school students consider whether to continue their schooling and attend and complete college. Despite evidence showing that a college degree yields far-reaching benefits, critics of higher education increasingly argue that college “does not pay off” and some students - namely, disadvantaged prospective college goers - would be better served by forgoing higher education. But debates about the value of college often fail to carefully consider what is required to speak knowledgeably about the benefits –what a person’s life might look like had they not completed college, or their college counterfactual. In Overcoming the Odds sociologist Jennie E. Brand reveals the benefits of completing college by comparing life outcomes of college graduates with their college counterfactuals. Drawing on two cohorts of nationally representative data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics National Longitudinal Surveys program, Brand uses matching and machine learning methods to estimate the effects of college completion across students with varying likelihoods of completing four-year degrees. To illustrate her findings, Brand describes outcomes using matched vignettes of college and non-college graduates. Brand shows that four-year college completion enables graduates to increase wages and household income, while also circumventing unemployment, low-wage work, job instability, poverty, and social assistance. Completing college also increases civic engagement. Most of these benefits are larger for disadvantaged than for more advantaged students, rendering arguments that college has limited benefits for unlikely graduates as flawed. Brand concludes that greater long-term earnings, and less job instability and unemployment, and thus more tax revenue, less reliance on public assistance, and high levels of volunteering indicate that public investment in higher education for students from disadvantaged backgrounds yields far-reaching collective benefits. She asserts that it is better for our society when more people complete college. Overcoming the Odds is an innovative and enlightening exploration of how college can transform lives.

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327

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Russell Sage Foundation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1610448936

ISBN 13

9781610448932

Pass It On; a Treasury of Virgin Islands Stories

By: Jennie N. Wheatley

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Pass It On; a Treasury of Virgin Islands Stories

By: Jennie N. Wheatley

While growing up in the middle of the twentieth century in the Virgin Islands, Boysie becomes known for his boldness and pulling creative pranks. Mr. Smith owns the finest genip tree in East End and already knows that Boysie likes to sneak into his orchard to taste the produce. One day when Boysie recruits two friends to help him pick the fruit while Mr. Smith is napping, the adventure doesn’t go as planned. Soon after being punished for his previous prank, Boysie makes an ill-fated choice to “borrow” a bundle of wood for his mother and realizes there are consequences for lies. When Boysie decides to learn how to swim, he is mentored by a friend who teaches him the importance of believing in himself rather than showing off in front of others. As his experiences continue, what will Boysie learn next? Pass It On shares stories that weave historical events and life into a tapestry that recaptures the bittersweet essence of the past lifestyle of the people of two small Virgin Islands villages.

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131

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ISBN 10

1665568186

ISBN 13

9781665568180

Overcoming the Odds

The Benefits of Completing College for Unlikely Graduates

By: Jennie E. Brand

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Overcoming the Odds

The Benefits of Completing College for Unlikely Graduates

By: Jennie E. Brand

Debates about college access often do not carefully consider what is required to speak knowledgeably about the benefits of college degrees. First, we want to know what an individual's life would look like without a college education. Second, we need to consider unequal access to higher education. Who attends and completes college, and who does not? Third, we need to determine which benefits of college we consider and how diverse benefits differ across diverse graduates. Too often, the rewards valued in public and academic debate begin and end with wages. The traditional focus on wages does not capture all the life-enhancing effects of higher education. In this book, Jennie Brand assesses how a range of long-term benefits of four-year college degree completion differs across the population. Considering socioeconomic, family-level, social assistance, and civic outcomes measures, she concludes that colleges are far from failing disadvantaged students. Their returns to degrees are substantial: a college degree not only enables underprivileged students to circumvent unemployment, low-wage work, job instability, poverty, and social assistance but also increases their likelihood of engaging in civic society"--

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327

Publisher

Russell Sage Foundation

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ISBN 10

0871540088

ISBN 13

9780871540089

Book's by Jennie E. Brand

Overcoming the Odds

Overcoming the Odds

Pass It On; a Treasury of Virgin Islands Stories

Pass It On; a Treasury of Virgin Islands Stories

Overcoming the Odds

Overcoming the Odds

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