WASHINGTON, D.C. – When it comes to measuring America’s post-secondary attainment rates, certificates often get short shrift in relation to degrees.
But a new groundbreaking report released Wednesday by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce says certificates count for a lot more than many people may think, although results vary by ethnicity and gender.
The report – titled “Certificates: Gateway to Gainful Employment and College Degrees” – found that certificate-holders often earn more than those with associate’s degrees and sometimes more than those with bachelor’s degrees.
“Certificates count when it comes to leveraging gainful employment in a variety of ways,” says the report, authored by Dr. Anthony P. Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce, along with Dr. Stephen J. Rose, a research fellow at the center, and research analyst Andrew R. Hanson.
Specifically, the report found that, while the average college degree holder earns more than workers with certificates, the average male with a certificate earns more than 40 percent of the men with associate’s degrees and 24 percent of men with bachelor’s degrees, while the average female with a certificate earns more than 34 percent of the women with associate’s degrees and 24 percent of women with bachelor’s degrees.
With roughly one million certificates being awarded each year and representing 22 percent of all postsecondary awards versus 6 percent in 1980, the authors also posit that the United States would be closer to the Obama administration’s goal of making the country the most college-educated nation in the world if certificates were factored into the equation—even if only those certificates with “clear and demonstrable economic value over high school diplomas” were counted.
Certificates could also be a boon to the nation’s college degree attainment rate because they serve as a gateway to actual degrees, the report found.
