A Volume in the American Sociological Association’s Rose Series in Sociology

"With the latest surge in critics questioning the value of college degrees, Overcoming the Odds couldn’t come at a better time. Jennie E. Brand’s book considers the transformative effects of college from a holistic perspective—not just the earnings premium but all the nonpecuniary benefits of earning a degree. Her research is an important contribution to the conversation: yes, a college degree is ‘worth it,’ both for the individual and society at large."
—ANTHONY P. CARNEVALE, research professor and director, Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW), McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University

"In Overcoming the Odds Jennie E. Brand solves one of the great social science puzzles of our time: Would young people who are unlikely to graduate from college get anything out of it if they were lucky enough to get a degree? Brand applied advances in modern statistical inference to arrive at the answer, and it is YES! She illustrates her conclusions with real case studies that reveal the lived experiences behind the statistics."
—MICHAEL HOUT, professor of sociology, New York University

Each year, millions of high school students consider whether to continue their schooling and attend and complete college. Despite strong evidence that a college degree yields far-reaching benefits, some critics of higher education increasingly argue that college “does not pay off” and that some students—namely, disadvantaged prospective college students—would be better served by forgoing higher education to immediately enter the workforce or pursue vocational training instead. But debates about the value of college often fail to consider what each individual’s life would look like had they not completed college, or what is known as a person’s college counterfactual. In Overcoming the Odds sociologist Jennie E. Brand reveals the benefits of completing college by comparing life outcomes of college graduates with their college counterfactuals.

Drawing on two cohorts of nationally representative data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics National Longitudinal Surveys program, Brand uses matching and machine learning methods to estimate the effects of college completion across students with varying likelihoods of completing four-year degrees. To illustrate her findings, Brand describes outcomes using matched vignettes of college and noncollege graduates. Brand shows that four-year college completion enables graduates to increase wages and household income, while also circumventing unemployment, low-wage work, job instability, poverty, and social assistance. Completing college also increases civic engagement. Most of these benefits are larger for disadvantaged than for more advantaged students, rendering arguments that college has limited benefits for unlikely graduates as flawed. Brand concludes that greater long-term earnings, and less job instability and unemployment, and thus more tax revenue, less reliance on public assistance, and high levels of volunteering indicate that public investment in higher education for students from disadvantaged backgrounds yields far-reaching collective benefits.

Overcoming the Odds is an innovative and enlightening exploration of how college can transform lives. Brand’s novel research convincingly demonstrates that it is better for our society when more people complete college.

JENNIE E. BRAND is professor of sociology and statistics, University of California, Los Angeles.

This bibliography comprises two main sections: first, writings on relief problems and issues immediately preceding or arising from World War II, and second, publications dealing with relief programs instituted to deal with problems that arose during, or as a result of, World War I.

SIGRID HOLT was the librarian in the Charity Organization Department at the Russell Sage Foundation.

This booklet presents a picture of the aims of those responsible for work-relief programs in Germany. Topics include types of service, wages and hours, the Bureau for Work Relief, personnel practices, planning and selection of projects, special projects, and possibilities and limitations of work relief.

HERTHA KRAUS was director of the Department of Welfare of Cologne, Germany.

This booklet offers a digest of pertinent material for those interested in planning or administering relief abroad. Topics include launching the program, political difficulties, personnel and fiscal policies, and ending the enterprise.

JOHN VAN GELDER FORBES received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951 and taught at Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois.

DONALD S. HOWARD was assistant director of the Charity Organization Department of the Russell Sage Foundation.

This booklet suggests how religious, moral, economic, recreational, and social training can help children in orphanages grow up to be effective citizens.

C. SPENCER RICHARDSON worked in the Department of Child-Helping at the Russell Sage Foundation.

This booklet offers guidance to relief committees that may be promoting subsistence gardens. Appendix I contains a questionnaire and a list of cites and states that replied. Appendix II contains forms used in various garden projects.

JOANNA C. COLCORD and MARY JOHNSTON worked in the Charity Organization Department of the Russell Sage Foundation.

This booklet brings together recommendations for community action to meet emergent unemployment. It includes a list of the books and pamphlets quoted.

JOANNA C. COLCORD was the director of the Charity Organization Department at the Russell Sage Foundation.

American Friends in France, 1917–1919 is the fifth of a series of occasional papers under the editorship of Donald S. Howard. Topics include organization and personnel, health and child care, house building, education, relief, and agricultural reconstruction.

Problems Involved in Administering Relief Abroad contains excerpts from an address by Clarence E. Pickett delivered before the School of Training in International Administration of Columbia University on November 19, 1942.

RUFUS M. JONES was editor of Friends Review and taught philosophy for forty years at Haverford College.

CLARENCE E. PICKETT was executive secretary of American Friends Service Committee.

DONALD S. HOWARD was assistant director of the Charity Organization Department of the Russell Sage Foundation.

American Aid to Germany, 1918–1925 is the fourth of a series of occasional papers under the editorship of Donald S. Howard. It contains excerpts from the book America and Germany, 1918–1925, by Sidney Brooks. Topics include conditions in Germany after World War I, transport and finance problems, the child-feeding program administered by the American Friends Service Committee, and clothing distribution by the Friends.

The Long Mile Beyond Berlin is excerpted from an address by Shelby M. Harrison before the New York Academy of Public Education on November 19, 1942. It discusses the tasks of relief and reconstruction that will face the United States after the current war.

SIDNEY BROOKS was the author of America and Germany, 1918–1925 (Macmillan, 1925).

SHELBY M. HARRISON was general director of the Russell Sage Foundation.

DONALD S. HOWARD was assistant director of the Charity Organization Department of the Russell Sage Foundation.

This booklet outlines the social work of the state of Florida. Among the topics discussed are war activities, care of soldiers and their families, food conservation, education in patriotism, administration of boards and institutions, the public health service, the prison system, infant mortality, child labor, recreation, public education, and care of the poor.

HASTINGS H. HART was the director of the Department of Child-Helping at the Russell Sage Foundation.

CLARENCE L. STONAKER was a staff member of the State Charities Aid and Prison Reform Association of New Jersey.