Well-being scarring effects of college non-completion

Abstract

Little is known about the socio-emotional consequences of dropping out of college. Here, we investigate the effects of college non-completion on a range of markers for general psychological well-being (self-esteem, life satisfaction, and fear of failure) as well as health-related well-being (self-rated general health and clinical depressive symptoms). Based on rich panel data from Germany in combination with entropy balancing, we find that by around age 31, non-completers fared worse compared to college graduates as well as non-college goers, i.e. students who were eligible to enter college but decided against it. About 18 years after leaving college, when non-completers were aged 40, their psychological and health-related well-being was still lower than that of graduates, while non-completers and non-goers did not differ significantly regarding their well-being. We conclude that adapting to educational discontinuation is difficult and discuss potential policy measures to protect individuals from long-term adverse consequences.

Keywords: Entropy balancing; Germany; Health; Higher education dropout; Incomplete degree; Life events; Life satisfaction; Self-esteem; Well-being.