ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the effects of postsecondary education in terms of three levels of attainment: those with only high school degrees; graduates with sub-baccalaureate and baccalaureate or higher degrees. Deaf adults with four-year and higher degrees are 10 times more likely to be employed in Managerial and Professional Specialty occupations than sub-baccalaureate degree holders. In order to effect change, the basic academic skills of deaf students must be improved so that, ultimately, a larger portion of deaf individuals will be able to enter and graduate from postsecondary educational programs. College graduates are rewarded in many ways for their investment. College graduates are more likely to be in the labour force, less likely to be unemployed, and much more likely to be in the managerial or professional occupations that are thought of by most people as having greater prestige, status, and desirability. The earnings gap between the deaf sample and persons nationally persists for each successive age group.
