The Labor Market Returns to Very Short-Term Rapid Postsecondary Certificates

Currently, colleges and universities award over a million undergraduate certificates annually, accounting for about a quarter of undergraduate postsecondary credentials awarded each year in the United States. The fastest growing certificates are those that take less than a year to complete, with such awards growing about 60% over the past two decades and outpacing growth in any other type of undergraduate credentials. The precipitous growth in certificate awards, driven by prominent policy initiatives and student demand, has led to questions about the value of short-term postsecondary credentials. We examine the labor market returns to short and very short certificates, including those that require only a few credits to complete, using data from Kentucky that has among the highest awarding rates of such credentials. Though less expensive in terms of both direct and indirect costs, we find that rapid certificates (those that require 6 credits or fewer) have similar labor market returns to longer but still short-term certificates (7-15 or 16-36 credits) in the first few years after the certificate is earned. Rapid certificates yield the greatest immediate earnings and employment gains, though these benefits begin to fade out within a few quarters.