Objective: This study evaluates the postgraduate earnings of students with an applied baccalaureate (AB) degree compared to the earnings of students with the same associate degree but no baccalaureate degree. The research questions include the following: For those students who earn an AB degree, does it result in higher earnings than the associate degree? Does the earnings difference vary by field of study? Which student characteristics account for variation in earnings beyond the effect of the AB degree? Method: This study used propensity score weighted regression to examine the difference in earnings of AB degree and associate degree graduates in three programs—health, technology, and social science—at three different community and technical colleges in Washington state. Results: We find that the AB degree graduates have higher earnings than associate degree graduates in each of the three programs, although for certain programs the earnings increase is small enough to be explained by characteristics intrinsic to the student. Higher earnings are also associated to other student characteristics such as age, gender, earnings prior to enrollment, and academic proficiency, indicating a difference in economic benefit for some students. Contributions: The findings from this study contribute to the overall understanding of the complex relationship between level of education and earnings, specifically the impact on earnings of an AB above and beyond the associate degree. The analyses revealed evidence of a gender gap in earnings by program, which is an area that requires further study.

中文翻译：

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应用学士学位对收入的影响

目标：本研究评估了拥有应用学士学位 (AB) 学位的学生的研究生收入与拥有相同副学士学位但没有学士学位的学生的收入相比。研究问题包括以下内容：对于那些获得 AB 学位的学生，它是否会导致比副学士学位更高的收入？收入差异是否因研究领域而异？哪些学生特征解释了超出 AB 学位影响的收入变化？方法：本研究使用倾向得分加权回归来检查华盛顿州三个不同社区和技术学院三个项目（健康、技术和社会科学）的 AB 学位和副学士学位毕业生的收入差异。结果：我们发现 AB 学位毕业生在这三个项目中的每个项目中的收入都高于副学士学位毕业生，尽管对于某些项目，收入增长幅度很小，可以用学生的内在特征来解释。较高的收入还与其他学生特征有关，例如年龄、性别、入学前的收入和学术水平，这表明某些学生的经济利益存在差异。贡献：这项研究的结果有助于全面了解教育水平与收入之间的复杂关系，特别是对副学士学位以上 AB 收入的影响。分析揭示了按计划划分的收入存在性别差距的证据，这是一个需要进一步研究的领域。