Postsecondary Education Enrollment Responses by Recent High School Graduates and Older Adults

Abstract

Most studies of the demand for postsecondary education focus on college enrollment decisions of recent high school graduates. This study expands the typical analysis in two ways. First, the demand for postsecondary education is tested for two age cohorts, recent high school graduates and older adults, using one data set-the Department of Education's Survey on Adult Education. Second, two postsecondary school alternatives-college or occupational school-are considered. Results from a polytomous logit model indicate that older adults are responsive to many of the same economic variables that affect schooling decisions of recent high school graduates. Also, there is evidence that colleges and postsecondary occupational schools are closer substitutes than had previously been realized.