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Torpey-Saboe, N., Song, H. & Thompson, M. Work-Based Learning and Early Career Outcomes: Evidence on Earnings, College-Level Employment, and Career Progression. Res High Educ 67, 14 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-026-09888-4
Abstract
Prior research has linked internships to career benefits for students. But are the benefits we see due to the internship itself or to other characteristics of students that make them both more likely to secure an internship and more likely to get a higher paying job after graduation? And do other forms of work-based learning also convey career benefits? In this study, we use a matching design on restricted-access data from the National Center for Education Statistics to analyze the link between work-based learning and employment outcomes for bachelor’s degree completers one and four years after graduation. Work-based learning pathways explored include paid and unpaid internships, co-ops, practica and federal work-study jobs. After pre-processing the data via nearest neighbor matching on student academic and demographic characteristics to approximate experimental conditions, we find evidence that paid internships are associated with higher earnings one and four years after completion, as well as higher likelihood of college-level employment and career progression. We hypothesize three key mechanisms by which work-based learning might improve employment outcomes: development of transferable skills, networking that facilitates access to professional connections, and resume signaling for employers that demonstrates otherwise unobservable qualities of a candidate. Our analysis provides some support to all three mechanisms, but the strongest case for the third mechanism: symbolic capital/ resume signaling. Unpaid internships and practica experiences are linked to higher likelihood of college-level employment and career progression, but not to earnings benefits.
Keywords: Career Skills, Career Counseling, Experiential Education, Lifelong Learning, Professional and Vocational Education, Sociology of Work, Student Employment and Educational Outcomes
Bañuelos, N.I., & Jang-Tucci, K. (2025). Investigating the relationship between community cultural wealth and cultural capital in higher education: A quantitative study. Innovative Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-025-09844-7
Abstract
This manuscript investigates the relationship between Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital–what we refer to as Bourdieusian Cultural Capital (BCC)–and Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework. We examine two core assumptions about these concepts: (1) that CCW and BCC represent distinct forms of capital, and (2) that CCW is a resource unique to Students of Color. Drawing on survey data from two larger studies of college students (N = 892), we examine whether commonly used quantitative measures of BCC and new measures of CCW capture different cultural signals, and whether students’ reported levels of each vary by race/ethnicity, subjective social class, and parental education. Our findings support the conceptual distinction between CCW and BCC, although some forms of CCW (e.g., aspirational, navigational, and familial capitals) overlap more with BCC than others. Notably, White students’ report access to resources that approximate CCW, challenging the notion that these forms of capital are tied exclusively to racialized experiences. We call for more conceptual precision–both in measuring cultural capital and in developing programming for students.
Keywords: Career and Technical Education (CTE), Student Success, Postsecondary Education, Employability Skills, Workforce Development, Career Readiness, Educational Pathways, Soft Skills, STEM Education, High-Impact Practices, Online Learning, Remote Work Preparedness, Industry Partnerships, Vocational Training, Educational Equity, Alternative Postsecondary Pathways, Technical Skills, Professional Development, Transferable Skills, CTE Policy and Funding
Banerjee, M., & Bingen, K. (2024). A Case for Equity in Experiential Learning: Work-Based Learning as a Viable Alternative to Internships. Experiential Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 7(4 – December). Retrieved from https://journals.calstate.edu/elthe/article/view/4145
Abstract
This study presents a course model to demonstrate how students’ current work experiences can be utilized as a viable alternative to internships. While internships have been shown to enhance a student’s college experience, underserved and underrepresented students are often unable to pursue this high impact practice due to financial, socio-cultural, and institutional barriers. To address this inequity, the authors present an alternative course model to internship completion that can be just as effective. SEE’s principles of good practice for experiential learning and NACE career competencies were used as a guiding framework for developing this course. Student outcome data (n=20) is presented from a small four-year public Midwestern university that serves a disproportionately higher percentage of disadvantaged students in the state. Paired sample t-test shows that students achieved significant improvement in all eight career competencies with the most gains in leadership, career and self-development, and critical thinking. The results demonstrate that work-based learning can be an alternative to internships, allowing students to achieve career competencies. When structural barriers beyond a student’s control prevent them from participating in an internship, work-based learning can be a tool to mitigate equity concerns and level the playing field as it relates to access to internships.
Chin, M.Y., Jeffries, J., & Thompson, M.N. (2024). The Impact of Downward Classism on Social Class Concealment Among College Students Who Are Low-Income. Journal of College Student Development 65(3), 316-320. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/csd.2024.a929245. 
Abstract: Given the privileging of white, middle-class norms in higher education, students who are low-income encounter classism in college (e.g., Cattaneo et al., 2019). Specifically, these students experience downward classism as posited by the social class worldview model (SCWM) in the form of discrimination or prejudice for deviating from the economic and sociocultural norms in their institutions (Liu et al., 2004). The model describes people’s beliefs and experiences as shaped by their economic cultures and classism. College can thus be considered a type of economic culture for students. Downward classism has been shown to negatively impact low-income students’ academic and social outcomes, including their social connectedness and perceived stigmatization (Allan et al., 2016; Nguyen & Herron, 2021).
Results from a growing body of correlational and qualitative research have illustrated the ways in which students who are poor or working class manage their social class identities in higher education. Strategies of class code-switching (e.g., altering language) and disassociation (e.g., hiding status) were commonly used by students to manage the stigma associated with their lower social class statuses as well as pressures toward upward mobility in college settings (Elkins & Hanke, 2018; Radmacher & Azmitia, 2013). Poor and working-class college students were more likely to hide or conceal their social class backgrounds when they interacted with those of higher status (Aries & Seider, 2005; Radmacher & Azmitia, 2013). These findings suggest that for low-income students, social class concealment may function as a response to maintain their social status when faced with downward classism per SCWM (Liu et al., 2004). However, concealment may exacerbate negative emotions and hinder students from gaining social support, which can reinforce their disconnection from others (Aries & Seider, 2005).
Despite the well-documented links between social class and other social identities (e.g., first-generation student status, race/ethnicity) that have critical implications for college students’ experiences (Hinz, 2016; Radmacher & Azitia, 2013), limited research has examined how students’ other identities are connected to experiences with classism. Further, existing results have yielded mixed findings. In one study at a public university, students’ financial stress, but not their social class, significantly predicted their exposure to classism. This relationship did not differ between students of color and white [End Page 316] students (Cattaneo et al., 2019). In a different study, Allan et al. (2016) found that both students’ social class and first-generation college student (FCGS) status significantly predicted more experiences with classism.
This study built upon previous research to examine the daily phenomenon of social class concealment among low-income college students attending a large public land grant university in the US and to explore how students’ identities contribute to concealment. Using data from a mixed-methods daily diary study (Chin, 2020), we tested whether students concealed their social class more frequently among interaction partners (i.e., person or people with whom students interact) with higher status (H1) and whether more effort was used to conceal their status among partners with higher status (H2). Next, we explored differences in the overall concealment frequency reported among subgroups of low-income students based on their FGCS status, race/ethnicity, transfer student status, and their own perceived social status.
Keywords: Higher Education · Low-Income Students · Classism · Financial Stress · First-Generation College Students · Academic Outcomes · Upward Mobility · Stigmatization