Accreditation is a federally recognized review process of quality assurance in higher education and is intended to engage institutions in continuous efforts to improve quality. If a college does not receive a positive evaluation as a result of an accreditation review, its regional accrediting agency may impose a sanction until that time when the college can fix deficiencies identified during the evaluation process. In California, the number of public community colleges having a sanction imposed by the western region’s Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) has increased since the turn of the century, rising from one college on sanction in 2003 to as many as 27 colleges on sanction in 2012. From 2008 through 2013, 70 of California’s 112 community colleges had experienced a sanction. Of those, 49 made recommended improvements and had their accreditation reaffirmed within two years. However, some colleges take longer to make improvements and to have the sanction lifted. Focusing on colleges that successfully removed a sanction, this study employed a qualitative research approach using multiple methods: a survey questionnaire and a multiple case study of two colleges. Accreditation Liaison Officers from eight colleges responded to the survey. Two colleges participated in the multiple case study in which administrators, managers, faculty, and classified staff were interviewed. Survey and interview participants were asked what they believed were the organizational behaviors and characteristics that contributed to their successful removal of the sanction. Findings indicate that successful colleges did not delay responding to the sanction; they organized human resources into work groups to accomplish tasks; they mapped out plans and created timelines for completion; they increased communication efforts across campus; they involved many persons from their multiple constituent groups; and they documented all work and accomplishments. Findings also indicate that leaders at successful colleges are effective communicators and organizers; value the accreditation process; exhibit trust, respect, and openness, and work collaboratively and collegially. The findings in this study may provide helpful information to sanctioned colleges in the future. / text

This thesis consists of a summary and four self-contained papers. Paper [I] examines whether fathers influence the time their children spend in subsidized child care. Two non-nested models of family child care demand are estimated. The parameter estimates indicate that several characteristics of the father are associated with the time his child spends in child care. J-tests and bootstrapped J-tests also show that a model where the father’s characteristics are excluded can be rejected in favour of a model where his characteristics are included. Paper [II] considers the effects of the Swedish child care fee reform on public expenditures and taxation in the municipalities. A difference-in-difference approach is employed where outcomes are compared with respect to the municipalities’ pre-reform fee systems. The results show that pre-reform characteristics determine taxes and child care expenditures in the post-reform period. It is also found that changes in child care quality were not connected to the pre-reform systems characteristics. Paper [III] provides evidence of the effect of college quality on earnings in Sweden. The results suggest that the link between college quality and earnings is weak. A small positive effect is found for individuals that are likely to work full time. Controlling for region of work affects the estimated effects, indicating a correlation between choice of college quality and choice of labour market region. In Paper [IV], earnings differences between transfer and non-transfer students are analysed. The results show that earnings, during the first years after leaving the university, are significantly lower for students who change universities compared to students who do not change. The earnings differences decrease significantly over time and over the earnings distribution.

Submitted by Priscilla Bacalhau Velloso da Silveira (priscillabvs@gmail.com) on 2018-06-21T12:13:31Z No. of bitstreams: 1 PriscillaBacalhau_Thesis.pdf: 2860519 bytes, checksum: e1380a290aef63cb810e6662593d647f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Katia Menezes de Souza (katia.menezes@fgv.br) on 2018-06-21T12:32:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 PriscillaBacalhau_Thesis.pdf: 2860519 bytes, checksum: e1380a290aef63cb810e6662593d647f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Isabele Garcia (isabele.garcia@fgv.br) on 2018-06-21T19:17:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 PriscillaBacalhau_Thesis.pdf: 2860519 bytes, checksum: e1380a290aef63cb810e6662593d647f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-06-21T19:17:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PriscillaBacalhau_Thesis.pdf: 2860519 bytes, checksum: e1380a290aef63cb810e6662593d647f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-25 / Attaining tertiary education has noteworthy implications for both individuals and society. This thesis is composed of three essays related to Economics of Education. The first chapter investigates whether the informational barriers prevent young students from completing high school and starting higher education, by performing an evaluation of a corporate volunteer program that aims to inform students about the benefits of finishing this level of education. The second chapter estimates the returns to college quality and to individual abilities on early career outcomes in Brazil. A new measure of the signal for college quality is proposed for these estimates. The third and last chapter performs a cost-effectiveness analysis of the public provision of higher education compared to private provision in Brazil. / Completar um curso de ensino superior tem implicações notáveis para os indivíduos e para a sociedade. Esta tese é composta por três ensaios relacionados à Economia da Educação. O primeiro capítulo investiga se as barreiras informacionais impedem que os jovens concluam o ensino médio e iniciem o ensino superior, realizando uma avaliação de um programa de voluntariado corporativo que visa informar os jovens sobre os benefícios de terminar esse nível de ensino. O segundo capítulo estima o retorno à qualidade da faculdade e às habilidades individuais nos resultados iniciais de carreira no Brasil. Uma nova medida do sinal de qualidade do ensino superior é proposta para essas estimativas. O terceiro e último capítulo realiza uma análise de custo-efetividade da provisão pública de ensino superior comparada à provisão privada no Brasil.