Early Family Formation: An Important Impediment to College Completion?

Kelly Raley, University of Texas at Austin
Yujin Kim, University of Texas at Austin

Substantial amounts of previous research have investigated the impact of a teen birth on high school completion. Although the effects of fertility on high school degree attainment are weaker than once believed, the general consensus is that teen fertility does have negative effects on educational attainment. Yet, we know little about the effects of fertility and family formation at higher levels on postsecondary attainment despite the fact that fertility rates are higher in the early twenties than they are in the teen years and rates of college-dropout are higher than rates of dropping out of high school. This extended abstract describes analysis using data from the 1997 NLSY to investigate the influence of family formation events on college persistence and degree attainment for both men and women.