Are They Still Worth It? The Long-Run Earnings Benefits of an Associate Degree, Vocational Diploma or Certificate, and Some College

Sub-baccalaureate education accounts for most of the expansion in higher education over the last century. Nevertheless, relatively few studies have examined the related long-term financial benefits. Exploiting a rich dataset linking the Survey of Income and Program Participation and administrative earnings records, this study investigates these benefits over a person’s early and mid-career and the heterogeneity of these patterns by field of study. We find substantial payoffs, net of an extensive set of demographic covariates and variables indicating high school courses taken. At the same time, we find considerable variation across degree types and fields of study. Several vocational diplomas, certificates, and associate degrees are associated with higher earnings than bachelor’s degrees in social science, liberal arts, and education. Implications of these findings are discussed.