Educational Attainment, Agricultural Jobs and Income among Alumni from Historically Black Land-Grant Colleges and Universities

Zekeri, Andrew A., Warren, Rueben, College Student Journal

BACKGROUND. Little is known about educational attainment, agricultural jobs and income among graduates from Historically Black Land-Grant College and Universities. In this study, we examined the impact of educational attainment on type of jobs among former students and determine if controlling for income, educational attainment has a positive impact on the type jobs after graduation.

METHODS. Data are from a study of graduates from three Historically Black Land-Grant Colleges and Universities in Alabama and Tennessee. The questionnaire included questions on educational attainment, career mobility, college curriculum competencies and skill, opinions about agricultural careers, actual salaries, fringe benefits, and other personal characteristics. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square statistics were used for the analysis.

RESULTS. The higher the level of education, the greater the tendency for these college of agriculture graduates to remain in agriculture-related careers. To these former students, the extent to which the work is intellectually satisfying appears to be more important than the income it yields.

CONCLUSIONS. Graduate related work associated with an advanced degree is highly satisfying even within low incomes.

Introduction

The purpose of this paper was to assess the impact of educational attainment on agriculture-related jobs held by former African American students trained in colleges of agriculture at Historically Black Land-Grant College and Universities. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that, controlling for income, the level of educational attainment will has a positive impact on the type jobs after graduation.

Despite a number of studies that have examined the aspirations and expectations of African American agricultural students in the late 1970s and early 1980s (Lyson, 1979; Molnar & Dunkelberger 1981; Molnar, Dunkelberger & Salter, 1981), there is much about actual career outcome of African American colleges of agriculture graduates from the south that is not fully understood. The number of research and policy analyses focusing on African American agricultural graduates has been limited. Past research efforts had limited scopes regarding explanations of African American student compensation after college (Zekeri 1994). To a …

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Publication information: Article title: Educational Attainment, Agricultural Jobs and Income among Alumni from Historically Black Land-Grant Colleges and Universities. Contributors: Zekeri, Andrew A. - Author, Warren, Rueben - Author. Journal title: College Student Journal. Volume: 45. Issue: 4 Publication date: December 2011. Page number: 891+. © 2009 Project Innovation (Alabama). COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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