Economic Benefits of the GED: Lessons From Recent Research

Abstract

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Education published a comprehensive synthesis of the General Educational Development certificate (GED). Since that time, additional research has shed light on the economic benefits of the GED. This review of that research highlights four lessons. First, the presence of the GED option may encourage some students to drop out of school. Second, economic benefits associated with a GED accrue only to dropouts who leave school with very low skills. Third, economic benefits associated with a GED appear over time rather than immediately upon receipt of the credential. Fourth, the returns to postsecondary education and training are as large for GED holders as for regular high school graduates, but GED holders obtain very little postsecondary education or on-the-job training.

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