Here is one measurement of the intellectual value of a 4 year degree over a 2 year degree.
In our pioneering seminar for community college senior administrators, we predicted that community colleges would be offering 4 year degrees by 2020, and that the primary bottom line measure of the college's economic and community value will be the percentage of community residents and workers with a four year, NOT two year, degree.
One college administrator asked us what the intellectual difference is between a person with 2 year versus 4 year degree (There are obvious unemployment and earnings differences). I did not have a good answer, but my brilliant co-author Julie Coates has found a measurement.
Here's what she found: "A a 2-year graduate would recognize around 55,000 to 60,000 different words and a 4-year graduate would recognize 70,000 words or more. This is a vocabulary difference of 10,000 words or more." Here's the source.
Coates elaborates, "One source suggests that college grads know about 20,000 more words than high school graduates. (50,000 vs 70,000). This would be consistent with the assertion that students learn around 3000 new words a year on average. From that one could possibly conclude that a high school graduate recognizes about 50,000 words, while a 2-year graduate would recognize around 55,000 to 60,000 words and a 4-year graduate would recognize 70,000 words or more." Photo: Julie (middle) with Beth Cassity, left, of Elizabethtown Community College in Kentucky and Rebecca Riley, Vice President of Lone Star College-Kingwood in Texas, at the pioneering Community College Seminar on Nine Shift.
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