Abstract
During the last two decades, there has been a significant growth in the share of faculty members at American colleges and universities that are employed in part-time or full-time nontenure-track positions. Our study is the first to address whether the increased usage of such faculty adversely affects undergraduate students' graduation rates. Using institutional level panel data from the College Board and other sources, our econometric analyses suggest that the increased usage of these faculty types does adversely affect graduation rates at four-year colleges, with the largest impact on students being felt at the public master's level institutions.
- Received August 2004.
- Accepted January 2005.