How
Can Low-Status Colleges Help Young Adults Gain Access to Better
Jobs?: Applications of Human Capital vs. Sociological Models
Regina Deil and James
E. Rosenbaum
Abstract
Most students enter college with the aim of improving
their job prospects, and for many low-income students, community
colleges and occupational colleges are the main college options.
This study compares the ways these two types of colleges help students
get access to jobs, and it compares the applicability of two competing
models: the human capital model and Meyer’s charter model.
We find that while community colleges use practices based on the
human capital model, occupational colleges use practices based on
the charter model, and their activities elaborate and extend Meyer’s
concept of a charter. Our study shows how the model applies to non-elite
colleges, and we discern five methods that occupational colleges
use to create charters for themselves. Unlike previous studies of
social networks and charters, which highlight the ways in which
such relationships preserve privilege, this paper discovers how
institutionally based social ties can benefit relatively disadvantaged
students. Charter formation processes are considered unnecessary
by the human capital model, and the practices involved in creating
and supporting charter relationships with employers are not prioritized
by community college staff. On the other hand, private occupational
colleges — which depend on efficient use of resources —
invest heavily in charter formation. Ironically, public community
colleges rely on the invisible hand of the labor market, yet private
occupational colleges devote considerable resources to the chartering
activities posited by sociologists. These results are not an indictment
of community colleges, nor an endorsement of occupational colleges.
Rather, this paper demonstrates the theoretical and policy alternatives
faced by institutions seeking to improve the labor market outcomes
of young adults.
Regina Deil, Institute
for Policy Research, Northwestern University
James E. Rosenbaum, School of Education and Social Policy,
Northwestern University
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