Recent Posts

Debate Participation and Student Achievement: Theory, Evidence, and Implementation

Released this January, the first phase of the Center’s Education and Health Initiative highlights the growing importance of educational attainment to lifelong health. Given how strong an indicator education is for one’s health, it is important to look for ways of improving educational attainment, as this may be an effective way of improving health outcomes…

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New Video and Policy Brief Highlight the Increasing Importance of Education to Lifelong Health

Americans without a high school diploma are living sicker, shorter lives than ever before, and the links between education and health matter more now than they have in the past, says a new policy brief and video released today by the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation….

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Center Director Testifies on Capitol Hill

By Frances Dumenci, University Public Affairs Appearing before a United States Senate subcommittee for the second time in as many months, Steven Woolf, M.D., director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health and professor of family medicine and population health in the VCU School of Medicine, is making a habit of lending…

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Intergenerational Effects of Educational Attainment

In my last few posts, I have discussed research highlighting the association between educational attainment and life expectancy, employment status, and other outcomes. A recent report out of the Urban Institute highlights the intergenerational effects of poverty and the educational attainment of parents on their children’s future prospects. In their report “Child Poverty and Its…

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Growing differences in Life Expectancy by Educational Attainment

Advances in public health have contributed to a rising population life expectancy in developed nations since at least the beginning of the 20th century. Despite our growing longevity, disparities among different groups persist. A study issued by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society found that life expectancy for the non-Hispanic white population…

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Implications of Rising Costs and Funding Cuts in Higher Education

A report issued by the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center illustrates how trends in tuition and fees for college degrees have impacted access to advanced education in American higher education institutions. Using annual survey data from United States colleges and universities, the report estimates that the cost of attendance at public, private, four-year, and…

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Education Increasingly Important in Post-Recession Employment

In August, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce released a report showing the impact of the great recession on employment for those with varying levels of educational attainment. The differences in losses during the recession and trends throughout the recovery have been stark between those with a high school diploma or less and…

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A College Degree is Key to Economic Opportunity (Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, August 2011)

In a recent report using 2007-2009 American Community survey data, researchers from Georgetown University have replicated a previous Census study on lifetime earnings. They found that individuals with a Bachelor’s degree 84% more over a lifetime than those with only a high school diploma, up from 75% in 1999.