The Cost of Bad Timing: The Effect of Military Exit Timing on Veteran Educational Attainment

with Carl Wojtaszek and Michael Kofoed — Available upon request

Abstract

Successful job transitions often hinge on a worker’s access to education and re-training. Yet factors that impact this important population’s education investment decision have been largely unexplored. We use a two-stage least-squares approach to investigate the effect of military exit timing on educational attainment during the 1990s and then again in the 2010s after passage of the Post 9-11 GI Bill. Using military records, we find that longer wait times between a soldier’s exit and a semester start date reduces the likelihood of enrollment in the 1990s, but the reverse effect in the 2010s. We explore the differences between time periods by looking at the increased use of online education and for-profit schools.

Cite

@unpublished{phippscostbad,
  title   = {{The Cost of Bad Timing: The Effect of Military Exit Timing on Veteran Educational Attainment}},
  author  = {Aaron Phipps and Carl Wojtaszek and Michael Kofoed},
  note    = {Available upon request}
}