Caught in the Cycle: Economic Conditions at Enrolment and Labour Market Outcomes of College Graduates*

We show that cohorts of male graduates who start college during worse economic times earn higher average wages than those who start during better times. This is not explained by differences in selection into employment, economic conditions at graduation, or field of study choices. Graduates who enrol in bad times are not more positively selected based on their high-school outcomes, but they achieve higher college grades and earn higher wages conditional on their grades. Patterns for female graduates are similar, though less robust. Our results suggest that individuals who enrol during downturns exert more effort during their studies.

a, the Sistem Pendukung Keputusan Pencarian Universitas di Malang Menggunakan Weight Product dengan Pembobotan Weighted Sum Model

Decision Support System (DSS) is a system that can help someone in making a decision to solve a problem. Weighted Sum Model (WSM) method and Weighted Product (WP) method are used in this system. The WSM method is the sum of the attribute rating multiplications with attribute weights. In this system, WSM method is used as a weight and will be used on the WP method. This weight is filled manually by the user and then calculated by the WSM method. Whereas the Weighted Product (WP) method is a method that uses multiplication to connect attribute ratings, and the rating must be raised first with the weight of the attribute. This system is used in the selection of college in the city of Malang. In the search process there are several criteria used, namely the number of computer department, tuition fees, campus environment, the number of scholarship programs and accreditation. These criteria are used as a reference for college grades used in the assessment section. The search procedure start when a user enters a criteria value that has been determined by the user. Furthermore, the value of the calculation is compared with the value already on data pattern. To find out whether the chosen university matches with the entered criteria, weight of criteria must be checked based on the university chosen by the user. The conversion value from input are compared by the value in the pattern data. The testing process in this study is by using a confusion matrix. Based on testing using the method confusion matrix, researchers obtained 72.50 % value of accuracy, 82,76% value of precision, 80% value of recall and 81,36% value of f-measure.

Grades in Economics and Other Undergraduate Courses

This study analyzes GPA data from the transcripts of college grades using the Baccalaureate and Beyond survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics at the US Department of Education. It reports GPAs overall and for 12 undergraduate majors including economics. The regression analysis investigates the likely effects of prior ability or achievement, demographics, and institutional variables on both the overall GPA and GPAs in selected academic subjects, including economics. Gender differences are explored for the marginal effects of taking a course in a subject and differences in the percentages of “A” grades earned when a course is taken.

"An Investigation of the Hierarchy of Realization of English Idiomatic Phraseology by Iraqi Learners of EFL

There are many idiomatic expressions which constitute major problems for foreign learners of English. Phraseology as a general concept and particularly phrasal verbs are one of these idiomatic expressions. It is undeniable that EFL learners may find it difficult to understand and use idiomatic phraseology and this leads them to avoid using these expressions. The research aims at knowing to which extent Iraqi EFL students can recognize and produce idiomatic phraseology as a problem for EFL learners and to know how English idiomatic phraseology pass along a continuum of complexity through the college grades. It is argued that there will be some statistical differences among the students of the four grades of English department at College of Education for Women at Tikrit University. 100 students are chosen to be the sample of the research. The research is grounded into two main parts. The first, presents a theoretical background of idioms and phrasal verbs tackling some definitions, types, characterizations and features of idioms and phrasal verbs and the interference between the two concepts. Part two deals with the procedures of the research. The Conclusions indicate that language development is not necessarily a smooth continuous process that takes place all the time. Finally, some conclusions, findings, and suggestions are provided.

Virtual Classrooms: How Online College Courses Affect Student Success

Online college courses are a rapidly expanding feature of higher education, yet little research identifies their effects relative to traditional in-person classes. Using an instrumental variables approach, we find that taking a course online, instead of in-person, reduces student success and progress in college. Grades are lower both for the course taken online and in future courses. Students are less likely to remain enrolled at the university. These estimates are local average treatment effects for students with access to both online and in-person options; for other students, online classes may be the only option for accessing college-level courses. (JEL I23, I26)

Prediction of college grades in the sample of Norwegian students

College grades represent summative assessments that are traditionally used to evaluate the levels of student learning. In the present study we examine the relative impact of individual variables and learning environment (LE) on student grades. The individual variables included in the present study are: school attendance, student learning efficacy, and behavioural intentions. The LE variables are: perceived justice, social identification, learning context, and organizational citizenship behaviour. Participants comprised 201 students enrolled in a mid-size university in Norway. The individual predictors explained 30% of the variance in actual grades, with self-efficacy beliefs (β = .16, p < .05), non-mandatory school attendance (β = .25, p < .01), intentions to get a specific grade (β = .23, p < .01), and intentions to quit studying (β = .19, p < .01) as significant predictors. The LE variables explained zero % (0%) of the variance in actual grades. None of the included LE variables emerged as significant in the final step of the regression analysis. The central point in the discussion is dedicated to the somewhat surprising finding that none of the LE variables contributed to explained variance in actual grades. The implications and limitations of the present work would also be discussed.