Our research is part of “Informed Educational Choice”, a large project that accompanies other works devoted to examining households’ sustainability (Spoke 3) through the lenses of human capital investments (Work Package #2). Using newly collected survey data, we assess the current trend in young adults’ educational and monetary and non-monetary expectations. We interview students attending the last year of secondary school in Italy, who are about to make their decision about post-secondary education (whether to enroll to university or not, and which field of study to choose).

We measure their expectations in terms of monetary and non-monetary returns to education, and we create indicators that summarize those expectations on top of how much they differ from current labor market data whenever available. We also collect a wide range of demographic data and educational preferences which can further inform us on the determinants of students’ investment in human capital. We also interview a sub-set of students one year later and create an indicator to assess whether their expected choices regarding post-secondary education materialized.

Importantly, because we interview a representative sample of students nationwide, both females and males, and from different types of high schools (lyceums and technical schools) we can study the heterogenous answers of students alongside these relevant dimensions.