RESEARCH IN HIGHER EDUCATION Volume 7, Pages 97-115 © 1977 APS Publications, Inc.
BEYOND GRADUATION: The Educational and Employment Experiences of Graduates of an Elective Studies Degree Program Beatrice E. Robinson and Darwin D. Hendel, Measurement Services Center, University of Minnesota
This study describes the results of a questionnaire follow-up study of the employment and educational experiences of the graduates of a nontraditional elective studies degree program. Graduates of the experimental Bachelor of Elected Studies (BES) program at the University of Minnesota were compared with regular liberal arts graduates in terms of their postgraduation educational and employment experiences as well as their attitudes toward their undergraduate education. Results showed that although there were some differences between BES and regular liberal arts graduates in their attendance at graduate school, job history, and attitudes, goals, and expectations toward their undergraduate education, there were many similarities between the tWo groups. In most cases, BES graduates compare rather favorably with regular liberal arts graduates on most of the indicators examined in this study.
Key Words: nontraditional study; elective study; evaluation, college graduates
For the past decade, colleges and universities have been implementing various types of nontraditional degree programs at a rapid pace. In December of 1971, the National University Extension Association reported that it could list some 150 external and special degree programs, but estimated that the actual number was at least 250 (Benoit, 1973). One type of special degree program is the elective studies degree program which typically has no specific course requirements and allows students to develop individualized degree programs. Creager (1973), in a survey of 669 institutions of higher education in the United States, found that 17.3% of the universities, 13.9% of the four-year colleges, and 4.9% of the two-year colleges had
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individualized degree programs with no specific course requirements. The types of nontraditional degree programs offered at American colleges and universities are surprisingly diverse. This article is concerned with only one of these types of nontraditional degree program--the elective studies degree. The elective studies degree program is usually located within the traditional university setting but its students are allowed to design their own programs and typically, do not have to fulfill the usual English, language, distribution, and major requirements. The Bachelor of General Studies programs at the University of Michigan, the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of Dayton, Ohio University, and Capital University; the Experimental Bachelor's Degree Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle; the Kaskaskia Program at Western Illinois University; the Bachelor of University Studies program at Oklahoma State University; and the Bachelor of Elected Studies (BES) program at the University of Minnesota are examples of this type of elective studies degree program. After the implementation of these nontraditional programs at the various colleges and universities, accountability and evaluation started to become of some concern to both the friends and foes of these programs. Much of this evaluation was undertaken by the colleges and universities themselves in order to make some informed policy decisions about their new programs. Studies by Allen (Note 1), Berdie and Anderson (Note 3), Morris (Note 4), and Norr, Connel, and Hague (Note 5) are examples of internal evaluation studies of these nontraditional elective studies degree programs. These intrauniversity evaluation studies have focused on various aspects of these degree programs and have generally reached favorable conclusions regarding the continuance of these alternative degree programs. In addition to these intrauniversity efforts, recent publications in the educational and psychological literature attest to the appeal of research on nontraditional degree programs to a wider audience. Dressel (1971) provided discussion and examples about recent evaluations of nontraditional programs at several different colleges and universities across the country. He concluded that the most significant role that evaluation research could play in an experimental educational program is to become an ongoing and integral element in that program. Gaff (1970) examined some of the research done on cluster colleges and concluded that cluster colleges appear to be generally successful and have provided tentative solutions to some of the most serious problems facing American higher education today. Gould and Cross (1972) presented discussions which explored some of the issues and problems surrounding the implementation of nontraditional study and which described models of nontraditional study in existence now. Suddarth
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(1975), after analyzing the transcripts of 400 students enrolled in a special program which eliminated all liberal and general education requirements, concluded that some reduction or elimination of general requirements would not dilute the B.A. degree. Koren (1973) investigated the reactions of graduate and professional school admissions offices to the graduates of a special degree program at SUNY Buffalo. All these publications attempted to answer the larger question concerning the overall educational merit of nontraditional degree programs as well as dealing with some of the more specific evaluative questions concerning the best way to measure overall educational merit. Previous reports from Ohio University (Allen, Note 1) and the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle (Norr et al., Note 5) indicate that some of these universities have begun to look at the graduates of their elective studies degree programs. However, because most elective studies programs were started in the early 1970s, information about the graduates of these programs is rather sketchy. As a result, literature on the topic is just beginning to appear. There is more extensive information about the graduates of more traditional college programs (e.g., Babcock, 1941; Nelson, 1964; Weisman, Snadowsky, and Alpert, 1970; Feldman and Newcombe, 1969; Solmon and Taubman, 1973; E1-Khawas and Bisconti, 1974). These follow-up studies of graduates of traditional college programs have used varied methodological procedures to provide information about the impact of university undergraduate education on college graduates. Weisman et al. (1970) sums up the rationale for doing research on graduates in this way: The graduates, the "end products" of the educational process, are uniquely suited to determine the more stable and long range effects of an instructional program. They can best discuss the salient strengths and weaknesses of an institution and its constituent departments. (p. 120) The purpose of the present study is to compare the employment and educational experiences of graduates of an elective studies degree program with the same experiences of a comparison group of °'regular" liberal arts graduates. In this way, we hope to expand the data-based literature on the evaluation of nontraditional, elective studies degree programs.
METHOD
The Bachelor of Elected Studies Program (BES) at the University of Minnesota began in winter quarter 1972. From 1972 to 1975, 2,290 students were admitted into the BES program and 402 of these 2,290 have graduated with a BES degree. This study followed up all 402 BES
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graduates in December of 1975. The comparison group consisted of 403 regular liberal arts graduates, selected by year and quarter of graduation to match the BES group (e.g., if there were 23 BES graduates winter quarter of 1974, 23 regular liberal arts graduates were randomly selected). The selection procedure was stratified in this manner to insure that the two groups were comparable in terms of how long the graduates had been out of college. During the week of December 1, 1975, all graduates were sent copies of a 4 to 6 page questionnaire which used multiple-choice and open-ended questions to ask the graduates about their postgraduate experiences and attitudes. The questionnaires used were developed to test various hypotheses concerning elective studies students, to replicate questions included on an earlier survey of BES students (Berdie and Anderson, 1974), and to address specific evaluative issues about the BES program. The questionnaires asked the graduates about their educational and employment experiences since graduation, about the usefulness of their undergraduate education, and about their satisfaction with the University. Both the BES graduates and the comparison group of regular liberal arts graduates received questionnaires that were essentially the same in terms of content. In order to encourage a high questionnaire response rate, our follow-up procedures were extensive. Two separate mailings of follow-up reminders and some local telephone contact were the methods used to encourage those graduates who did not return their completed questionnaires to do so. A total of 311 BES graduates (77.4%) and 267 regular liberal arts graduates (66.3%) returned their completed questionnaires. Questionnaire data were analyzed with one major purpose in mind: to compare BES graduates with regular liberal arts graduates on such variables as attendance at graduate and professional school, job history, and general satisfaction and attitudes about their undergraduate education. Descriptive statistics (e.g., frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations) were calculated for both the BES and regular liberal arts graduates. Chi-square (Xz) and Students' t test (t) statistics were also calculated to compare the responses of the two groups of graduates. RESULTS
The primary focus for the present study was the comparison between BES and regular liberal arts graduates on relevant variables such as attendance at graduate school and student perceptions and evaluations of their undergraduate education at the University. However, it is also
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important to look at the similarities between the two groups of graduates on some basic background variables such as age, date of graduation, and sex. The results from this examination show that both the BES and regular liberal arts graduates tend to be the same age (M = 24.9 and M = 25°5, respectively) and tend to be similar in terms of when they graduated from college. This latter finding is not surprising since the graduates were chosen so that dates of graduation would be similar. The finding of similar graduation dates suggests that the graduates who returned their completed questionnaires were not different from the graduates who did not. The similarity between the two groups suggests that dLf.ferences found between the BES and liberal arts graduates are not likely to be a function of bias in terms of differences in age and date of graduation. On the other hand, the sex ratios in the two groups of graduates are different. The BES group contains fewer women (41.2%) than the liberal arts group (53.9%). The chi-square of 8.91 was significant (p 0.05). Subsequent analyses of differences between female and male responses showed statistically significant differences between men and women on a number of items on the follow-up questionnaire. Male-female differences for some of the items have implications for the comparison between BES and regular liberal arts graduates. Some of these issues will be dealt with later in this article. Attendance at graduate/professional school
The graduate and professional school attendance and plans of BES and regular liberal arts graduates are presented in Table i~ This table shows that a significantly higher percentage of liberal arts graduates (54.3%) than BES graduates (43.5%) planned to attend graduate or professional school, ×2 = 6.87, p ~< 0.05. In keeping with these plans, 40.4% of the liberal arts graduates and 29.9% of the BES graduates actually attended graduate school, X~ = 6.60, p ~< 0001o The greater graduate and professional school orientation of the liberal arts graduates can probably be explained by the slightly higher high schoot and college GPAs of liberal arts students (Barsaloux and Hendel, Note 2). In any case, there is no evidence from this study that graduate and professional schools discriminated against BES graduates in admission. A total of 106 BES graduates and 122 liberal arts graduates applied to one or more graduate schools. No statistically significant difference is found in the number of each group who were accepted into graduate school (X2 = 4.34, p > 0.05.) These data suggest that having a BES degree does not lower a graduate's success rate in terms of being admitted to graduate or professional school.
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Females and males respond differently to the three questions concerning graduate and professional school. In both the BES and liberal arts groups, a higher percentage of males than females have plans to attend, had attended, and/or are currently attending graduate or professional school, X2 = 7.01, p ~ 0.05. A caution to keep in mind is that this follow-up study was conducted relatively soon after graduates received their undergraduate degrees and that the sex differences which show up here may not reappear if the study was repeated in five or ten years. These results also suggest that our finding that regular liberal arts graduates show a greater proclivity for graduate and professional school is not explained by differences in the sex ratios in our two groups of graduates. In fact, an even higher percentage of liberal arts graduates would report tendencies toward graduate or professional school, if the female-male ratios were the same for both groups. Overall, these findings on the graduate and professional school attendance and plans of BES and liberal arts graduates indicate that graduates of an elective studies program are not as likely to formally continue their education as are graduates of the more traditional liberal arts program. It would appear that the motivations of BES graduates to succeed in educational environments vary somewhat from those of typical liberal arts students. Participation in informal educational activities
In addition to asking graduates about their formai educational experiences in graduate and professional school, graduates were also asked about their "informal" educational experiences. It was hypothesized that this was another indicator of the educational effects that a college education may have on its students. Thirteen informal educational activities were listed (e.g., "political activities," °'traveled to a foreign country") and graduates were asked to indicate which ones they had participated in since college graduation. The results show that there are no differences between the BES and regular liberal arts graduates in terms of their postgraduate participation in 12 of the !3 activities. The two groups differ on only one of the 13 activities; regular liberal arts graduates are more likely than BES graduates to have taken adult community education classes, X2 = 6.66, p ~ 0.01. Chi-square analyses of sex differences indicate that both 13ES and liberal arts female graduates more frequently enroll in these community education classes, X z = 9.81, p ~< 0.001; X2 = 12.99, p ~ O.001, respectively. Thus, the finding that liberal arts graduates are more likely to have enrolled in adult community education classes may very
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well reflect the higher percentage of females in the group of liberal arts graduates. In addition to the finding that more female graduates have taken adult community education classes, female graduates in both the BES and the liberal arts program also report higher participation in three other informal educational activities: " T a k e n a Class in the a r t s " (X2 = 10.82, p ~< 0.001; X2 = 6.27, p ~< 0.05), " W a s active in a concerned citizen's g r o u p " (X2 = 4.82, p ~< 0.05; X2 = 4.05, p ~< 0.05); "Artistic activities" (X~ = 7.61, p ~< 0.01; X~ = 5.64, p ~< 0.05), respectively. These findings suggest that although male graduates are more likely than female graduates to formally continue their education soon after graduation, female graduates may be more likely to informally continue their education.
Employment experiences since graduation The BES and regular liberal arts graduates report having similar e m p l o y m e n t experiences and attitudes about these experiences. Table II presents some of the major employment-related characteristics of B E S and liberal arts graduates. The two groups of graduates are very similar in the amount of time they have been u n e m p l o y e d since graduation, X2 = 4.83, p > 0.05; in the number of part-time jobs they held since graduation, X2 = 5.11; p > 0.05; in the amount of current job tenure, X2 = 8.94, p > 0.05; and in the amount of satisfaction they report having with their current job, t = 0.84, p > 0.05. Table III examines the current e m p l o y m e n t status of the two sets of graduates and shows that there are no notable differences between the BES and liberal arts graduates in terms of their present state of employment or unemployment, X2 = 4.88, p > 0.05. It is of general interest to note that the highest percentages of both groups of graduates are in the same two categories: "working full-time at a job that requires a college d e g r e e " and " w o r k i n g full-time at a job that d o e s n ' t require a college d e g r e e . " Further evidence of similarities between the employment status of B E S and liberal arts graduates is obtained when the graduates are asked to classify their present job in one of the following nine categories: professional, managerial, farm, sales, service trades, skilled trades, unskilled trades, clerical or office, and other. A chi-square analysis of these results indicates that the overaU type of employment for the two groups is very similar, X~ = 2.15, p > 0.05. Graduates most frequently report having jobs in the " p r o f e s s i o n a l , " "clerical or office," and " o t h e r " categories. In addition, both groups indicate that their present job fits in equally well with their overall career plans, t = 1.18, p > 9.05.
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Group a BES Response Housewife and/or mother or househusband and/or father Unemployed and looking for work Unemployed and not looking for work Working full-time (40 hours or more a week) at a job that requires a college degree Working full-time at a job that doesn't require a college degree Working part-time (less than 40 hours a week) at a job that requires a college degree Working part-time at a job that doesn't require a college degree
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~Fhe chi-square value was ?(2 = 4.88 which was net statistically significant for 6 degrees of freedom; the obtained p value was 0.674° There are v e r y few differences b e t w e e n the e m p l o y m e n t experiences of BES and regular liberal arts graduates, but some differences do exist. As Table II indicates, when c o m p a r e d with liberal arts graduates BES graduates report holding a smaller n u m b e r of full-time jobs since graduation (X2 = 14.66, p ~< 0.01). B E S graduates also report thinking that their university education has p r e p a r e d them better for their current job (t = 3.69, p ~ 0.001). T h e r e are v e r y few consistent sex differences in the area of present e m p l o y m e n t . F e m a l e s are more likely to report e m p l o y m e n t in professional and clerical and office jobs whereas males are more likely to report e m p l o y m e n t in managerial, sales, and skilled and unskilled trades jobs, ×2 = 20.38, p ~ 0.01. N o statistically significant differences are found in terms of current e m p l o y m e n t status, job satisfaction, or preparation for current job.
Reflections on University experiences B E S graduates fee! s o m e w h a t differently about their undergraduate university experiences than the regular liberal arts graduates do. On the average, B E S graduates tend to be m o r e satisfied than regular liberal arts graduates with their university education, t -= 3.61, p ~ 0.001. Evidence for this statement can be found b y examining Table IV which presents the responses of the graduates to an item asking them to rate
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their level of satisfaction with their undergraduate education. The fourth and eighth columns contain the mean satisfaction scores of the BES and liberal arts graduates. The higher mean satisfaction score of the BES graduates (M = 5.24, M = 4.85, respectively) illustrates their more positive feelings toward their undergraduate education. BES graduates are also more likely to feel that several personal and academic goals had been fulfilled during their undergraduate years, Table V compares the responses of the BES and liberal arts students to a series of nine goal statements which ask them to estimate how completely these goals were fulfilled during their undergraduate years. For six of the nine college goals, BES graduates have significantly higher means than regular liberal arts graduates, p ~ 0.01. For the remaining three goal statements, which seem to have a more strictly academic emphasis (e.g., learning about a particular discipline), the differences between the BES and liberal arts graduates are not significant. Thus it would seem that BES graduates have more positive feelings about their undergraduate years at college. They report having higher levels of satisfaction than liberal arts graduates. In addition, they feel that their undergraduate courses enhanced more of their goals for a liberal education, self knowledge and development, relating to people, personal happiness, creativity, and freedom.
Expected and experienced learning The BES and regular liberal arts graduates responded to items on the questionnaires asking them to evaluate how much they had learned academically, as well as how much they had learned about themselves, while they were at the University. More specifically, the graduates were asked how much they had expected to learn, both academically and personally, when they first entered the University. They were then asked how much they thought they actually had learned, academically and personally, during their undergraduate years at the University. Table VI presents the results for BES and regular liberal arts graduates for expected and experienced academic learning. As the table indicates, the comparison group of liberal arts graduates report expecting to learn more than the BES graduates, t = 3.32, p ~< 0.001. Interestingly enough, it is the BES graduates who say that they actually experienced a greater amount of academic learning, t = 2.88, p ~< 0.01. Whereas both groups of graduates indicate that they had learned less than they expected academically, the discrepancy between expectations and experiences was greater for the regular liberal arts graduates. This suggests that, because of this discrepancy, regular
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liberal arts graduates are more likely than BES graduates to be dissatisfied with their academic learning experiences at the University. A similar comparison for expected and experienced learning about self suggests that both groups of graduates expected to learn more about academic matters while they were at college than they expected to learn about themselves. What is interesting is that whereas both the BES and regular liberal arts graduates expected to learn approximately the same amount about themselves personally, the BES graduates report actually learning more about themselves while they were at the University, t = 2.03, p ~ 0.05. For whatever reason, being in BES seems to result in a feeling among its graduates that they learned more about themselves during college. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Relatively little systematic research has been done on the graduates of nontraditional degree programs. The results of this study provide information on the recent graduates of an elective studies degree program at a large midwestern university. The overall picture drawn by these findings suggests certain differences between BES and regular liberal arts graduates, but also suggests many similarities between the two groups. A higher percentage of liberal arts graduates report planning to attend and actually attending graduate or professional school since graduation. This finding may indicate some differential effects of the two degree programs, may be a temporary difference which would disappear if another follow-up study were done at a later date, and/or may merely reflect the slightly lower high school and college grade point averages of the BES graduates. In any case, the equal acceptance rates of the BES and liberal arts graduates to graduate and professional school tend to support the conclusion that acceptance and rejection rates of students who apply to these schools are not adversely affected by possession of an elective studies degree such as BES. Koren's (1973) investigation of the reactions of graduate and professional schools to applicants with self-designed programs also supports this conclusion: The student who designs his own program will be admitted to a graduate department or professional school provided he can initially compete with others on standard measurements (average, letters of recommendation, standardized exams), and he documents his worth and that of his endeavor to the admissions personnel (with a rationale, a copy of the program, appraisals by project sponsors). (p. 223). BES and regular liberal arts graduates are similar on six variables
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related to employment experiences since graduation (i.e., current employment status, job category, current job satisfaction, current job tenure, months unemployed since graduation, and relationship of current job to overall career plans) but are different on two variables (i.e., number of full-time jobs and preparation for current job). One of the differences on these two latter variables clearly favors BES graduates: the BES group reports feeling that the University has done a better job of preparing them for their current job. The other difference (i.e., BES graduates report having a smaller number of full-time jobs since graduation) does not necessarily favor either group but may indicate that BES graduates are less likely to change jobs as frequently as liberal arts graduates. In any case, BES graduates do not report any major difficulties from their potential employers because of their elective studies degree. These findings about the employment experiences of BES students since graduation are encouraging for advocates of elective studies degree programs and confirm similar findings by Allen (Note 1) at Ohio University. The similarity between the BES and regular liberal arts graduates on several variables should help to allay any fears about the value of such an untraditional degree in the "real world of work." The finding that BES graduates report better preparation by the University for their current job also speaks well for this type of degree program, Although one could argue that preparation for a career is not a liberal arts goal, we think that the importance of satisfactory employment after graduation cannot be denied. It would appear that BES graduates are just as likely as regular liberal arts graduates to find such employment. There are virtually no differences between BES and regular liberal arts graduates in their participation in 13 informal educational activities (e.g., doing volunteer work) since receiving their degree. These results support similar findings by Berdie and Anderson (Note 3) and imply that being in BES does not seem to have any short-term motivational effects on whether or not graduates continue their informal educational activities after graduation Results concerning graduates' evaluation of various aspects of their undergraduate education at the University are consistently more favorable for BES graduates. Although both groups of graduates tend to be satisfied with their University experiences, BES graduates are notably more satisfied with their undergraduate education. Although BES graduates say that they originally expected to learn less than liberal arts graduates about academic matters, the BES graduates nonetheless report learning more about academics than liberal arts graduates do. Whereas both groups of graduates originally expected to
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Robinson and Hendel
learn the same amount about themselves personally, it is the BES graduates who report learning more about themselves while they were at college. The two groups of graduates do respond similarly when asked if some typical academic goals were fulfilled by college (e.g., "Learning about a particular discipline"). However, BES graduates report more fulfillment for each of the following goals: developing and understanding selfl obtaining a liberal education, being able to relate to people, finding personal happiness, using their creativity, and enhancing their freedom. Of particular interest is the fact that both groups give similar responses for the academic goal item, "Learning about a particular discipline," a finding which supports previously reported transcript analyses by Barsaloux and Hendel (Note 2). Although BES students do not have majors, they appear to study specific topics in depth, as indicated by transcript analyses, and do indicate that they have learned about a particular discipline. Two caveats are in order at this point. The results from this study encompass, at most, approximately a three year period of time after graduation. Follow-up studies at some future point in time may indicate results different from those found in the present study. Secondly, these findings alone cannot prove that the BES or regular liberal arts program differentially affected the educational and occupational aspirations and attainments of their graduates. For example, since both the BES and liberal arts graduates chose to enter their respective degree programs, we cannot dismiss the possibility that any differences between the two groups of graduates may have existed before either group entered its particular undergraduate program. Other correlational and experimental studies are needed to explicate the effect that an elective studies program has on its students. However, the results from this study can suggest conclusions and hypotheses for future investigators. Results from this study lead us to conclude that BES graduates compare quite well to regular liberal arts graduates on most variables concerning short-term, postgraduation educational and employment experiences. REFERENCE NOTES
1. Allen, W. A. (1973). A comparative post-baccalaureate study of graduates of the Bachelor of General Studies program with other Ohio University baccalaureate recipients. Unpublished report. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University, University College. 2. Barsaloux, J., and Hendel, D. D. (1975). The Bachelor of Elected Studies program: Liberal education courses taken by BES graduates and a comparison group of CLA students. Unpublished report. Minneapolis: Measurement Services Center, University of Minnesota.
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3. Berdie, D. R., and Anderson, J. F. (1974). Beyond graduation: the Bachelor of Elected Studies program. Unpublished report. Minneapolis: Measurement Services Center, University of Minnesota. 4. Morris, C. G. Personal communication, September 19, 1974. 5. Norr, J. L., Connel, M., and Hague, J. (1976).~An evaluation of the Experimental Bachelor's Degree Program (EBDP). Mimeographed. Chicago: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle. REFERENCES
Babcock, F. L. (1941). "The U.S. College." New York: The Macmillan Company. Benoit, R. P. (1973). Alternative programs for higher education. "Intellect" 101:422-425. Creager, J.A. Selected policies and practices in higher education. ACE Research Reports, 8:4, Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education, September, 1973. Dressel, P. L. (Ed.) (1971). The new colleges: Toward an appraisal (Monograph Seven). Iowa City: The American College Testing Program and the American Association for Higher Education. El-Khawas, E. H., and Bisconti, A. S. (t974). Five and ten years after college entry: 1971 followup of 1961 and 1966 college freshmen. ACE Research Reports, 9:1, Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education. Feldman, K. A., and Newcomb, T. M. (1969). The impact of college on students (Vol. 1). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc. Gaff, J. G., et al. (1970). The cluster college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc. Gould, S. B., and Cross, K. P. (Eds.) (1972). Explorations in non-traditional study. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Koren, C. S. (1973). Student-designed curricu~ ".me graduate and professional school reaction. Research In Higher Education, 1:215-223. Nelson, J. L. (1964). Followup study of graduates. Improving College and University Teaching 12(2):111-112. Solmon, L. C., and Taubman, P. J. (Eds.) (1973). Does college matter? Some evidence on the impacts of higher education. New York: Academic Press. Suddarth, B. M. (1975). An investigation of general education requirements in college curricula. Research in Higher Education, 3:197-204. Weisman, S. S., Snadowsky, A., and Alpert, E. (1970). Alumni feedback and curriculum revision. Improving College and University Teaching 18:120-121.
