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Student loan debt and the career choices of college graduates with majors in the arts

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  • Richard J. Paulsen

    (Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

This study looks to test the impact of student loan debt on the career choices of college graduates with majors in the arts in the USA. As earnings are on average lower and more variable for arts graduates when compared to graduates of many other fields, I hypothesize that student loan debt will decrease the likelihood arts graduates will work in jobs related to their major fields of study. National Survey of College Graduates data is used to test this hypothesis. I find that for arts graduates, owing on student debt decreases the likelihood of working in jobs closely related to their major fields by over 25% and decreases the likelihood they work as artists by over 30%. For all college graduates, the negative impact of student debt on working in closely related jobs to their major fields is only 3%. Student debt may have potential distributional impacts on who works as artists, as Black and Hispanic graduates and those whose parents did not attend college are more likely to have student debt and less likely to be working in jobs closely related to their major field of study. Policies that help to alleviate the debt burden on arts graduates, like debt relief, could help to mitigate these negative distributional impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard J. Paulsen, 2024. "Student loan debt and the career choices of college graduates with majors in the arts," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 48(1), pages 95-115, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jculte:v:48:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s10824-023-09474-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s10824-023-09474-x
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Arts; Arts majors; Student loan debt; Career choices; Creative class; National survey of college graduates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z11 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economics of the Arts and Literature
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid

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