Presents a method allowing college leaders to assess the potential success of an academic merit scholarship program. Specifies a college choice model accounting for the price/quality trade-off, using Colgate University as an example. Quality differences between schools in an individual's choice set are the most important determinants of college…

Analyzes the low mobility of French secondary school graduates toward the most profitable higher education programs. Proves that the economic model of educational demand is inadequate. Students' choice ultimately depends on the advantages linked to possessing degrees or the effort required to obtain them. Includes 6 tables, 18 notes, and 15…

Develops logit model of determinants of choice of a graduate business school. Data are drawn from new longitudinal survey of registrants for the Graduate Management Admission Test. Finds, for example, that even after controlling for the effects of affirmative action in admissions, blacks and Hispanics are substantially more attracted to top-tier…

Explores whether cost of attending elite private colleges bears a return rate comparable to other human capital investments. Compares net present worth of attending elite private colleges to that of less selective public colleges. Private investments in educational quality yield a return rate equal to the return of investments in education…

Investigates differences across UK universities in 1993 life-sciences students' degree performance using individual-level data from the universities' Statistical Record. Analyzes differences across universities by specifying and estimating a subject-specific production function. Even after including a wide range of controls for the quality of…

Although status is important in student's choice of college, students do not always choose most prestigious school they can attend. Student concerns for both local and global status shape college choices. Students with similar abilities but different preferences choose different institutions. Implications for college choice, retention, academic…

Nearly two-thirds of all students attending 2-year colleges transfer to 4-year colleges by age 25. This paper shows that women are less likely than men to transfer; women who do transfer are less apt to earn a bachelor's degree, even after controlling for marital status and other factors. (Contains 18 references.) (MLH)

Previous econometric studies of relationship between undergraduate debt and postbaccalaureate activity generally do not find an inverse relationship between debt and activity. Multiequation model developed in this article shows that increase in expected educational debt significantly reduces probability that a student expects to enroll in graduate…

Despite steady enrollment growth and external shocks to U.S. higher education system, high school graduates' college-going decisions in 1980, as much as in 1972, depended on their social, academic, and financial attributes. Analyses of two national longitudinal surveys underlie this finding, implying traditional students' college decisions are…

Examines determinants of tuition at American private colleges using 1982-83 data. Hedonic regression analysis involving over 20 quality measures shows that private college tuition responds in economically sensible ways to changes in public tuition and in quantity and quality of the faculties, facilities, and student bodies at private colleges.…

Estimates demand for 772 U.S. colleges in 1994 by relating new applications to easily confirmable institutional characteristics. Demand is positively related to out-of-state tuition but inversely related to in-state tuition. Those who apply to public and private colleges are distinct subpopulations. Private-school applicants are less price- and…

This paper addresses how institutional selectivity influences college preferences and enrollment decisions of Texas seniors in the presence of a putatively race-neutral admissions policy--the top 10% law. We analyze a representative survey of Texas high school seniors as of spring, 2002, who were re-interviewed 1 year later to evaluate differences…

Investigates effect of tuition and fee changes on matriculation rate of applicants admitted to group of 82 selective liberal arts colleges. Increase in college's tuition and fees causes a significant reduction in the share of admitted applicants who choose to enroll. The elasticity of this relationship is about one-third and is somewhat larger for…

Examines the extent that a university's success in intercollegiate athletics affects the number of applications received for undergraduate admittance. The sample included 55 universities belonging to 1 of 6 major college football conferences. Econometric results show that a university football team's winning football record is positively (and…

Examines the matriculation behavior of high-ability students choosing among a small set of higher education institutions that are close competitors. Results suggest that students' choices are influenced by net attendance costs and that attendance cost effects decline as parental income increases. Nonmonetary and nonacademic factors, such as…