Estimates from models that only use cross-sectional variation
in attainment suggest that a year of full-time college
attendance (30 credits) associated with a $238 increase
in quarterly earnings (an approximately 14% increase over
mean pre-welfare earnings of women who enroll in college
following welfare entry) and a 3.5 percentage point increase
in the probability employment (a 7% increase). However,
after controlling for time-invariant individual-specific
characteristics via individual fixed effects, the estimated
impact of community college credits is no longer statistically
distinguishable from zero. The addition of individualspecific
trends in labor market outcomes further decreases the magnitude of the estimated impact of community college
credits. Taken together, the cross-sectional and fixed
effects estimates suggest that individuals who attend community
college but do not earn a credential would have
experienced greater earnings gains over time compared to
other women in the sample, even in the absence of college
enrollment.