Using 15 years of student enrollment histories from administrative data spanning the 2004–05 through 2018-19 school years at all public colleges, universities, and technical/trade schools in the state of Ohio, we examine rates of re-enrollment in postsecondary education for individuals pursuing additional credentials following the receipt of a sub-baccalaureate certificate. We find that the majority of certificate recipients re-enroll to continue their progression toward stacking credentials. The likelihood of re-enrollment diminishes for certificate earners as they get further out from the term when their initial certificate was completed. Certificate earners re-enroll at an accelerated rate if they acquired their initial certificate at a community college, if they currently have low wages at their jobs, and following increases in local unemployment rates. Our findings lend support to sociological ideas about the role of institutional contexts, opportunity costs, and labor market opportunities in shaping non-traditional postsecondary pathways across the life course.

我们使用俄亥俄州所有公立学院、大学和技术/贸易学校从 2004-05 学年到 2018-19 学年的行政数据中 15 年的学生入学历史，研究了在收到副学士学位证书后追求额外证书的个人。我们发现大多数证书接收者重新注册以继续他们的堆叠证书。证书获得者重新注册的可能性随着他们在完成初始证书时的期限越来越远而降低。如果他们在社区大学获得初始证书，如果他们目前的工作工资很低，则证书获得者会以更快的速度重新注册，随着当地失业率的上升。我们的研究结果支持关于制度环境、机会成本和劳动力市场机会在塑造整个生命过程中的非传统高等教育途径中的作用的社会学观点。