Within the past decade, there has been a growing number of studies examining undermatch--when students apply to or enroll in institutions less selective than their academic qualifications permit. To estimate undermatch, researchers must define institutions' selectivity levels and determine which students are eligible to gain admission to these…

Recently, multiple studies have focused on the phenomenon of "undermatching"--when students attend a college for which they are overqualified, as measured by test scores and grades. The extant literature suggests that students who undermatch fail to maximize their potential. However, gaps remain in our knowledge about how student…

Twenty-one US states currently offer some form of merit-based postsecondary financial aid, although the generosity and eligibility requirements of merit aid programs varies from state to state. This article uses nationally representative data from high school students in the early 1990s and the early 2000s to evaluate the relationship between the…

The emerging female advantage in education has received considerable attention in the popular media and recent research. We examine a persistent exception to this trend: women's underrepresentation in America's most competitive colleges and universities. Using nationally generalizable data spanning four decades, we evaluate evidence for…

The cost of attending college has risen steadily over the past 30 years, making financial aid an important determinant of college choice for many students and a subject of concern for colleges and state governments. In this paper, we estimate the effect of rule-based merit aid assignment on students' enrollment decisions at the University of Iowa.…

College is increasingly essential for economic and social mobility. Current research and public policy devotes significant attention to race, income, and socioeconomic factors in college access. Yet, wealth's role, as differentiated from income, is largely unexplored. This paper examines the differences between wealth and income in the…

Many students enroll in less selective colleges than they are qualified to attend, despite low graduation rates at these institutions. Some scholars have argued that qualified students should enroll in the most selective colleges because they have greater resources to support student success. However, selective college attendance is endogenous, so…

Honors colleges housed in public universities began only in the last half century, but have become nearly ubiquitous over the last 20 years. This paper, using recent data from the oldest stand-alone honors college in the country, is the first to study how the application and enrollment decisions of honors college students differ from the general…

This study developed and tested two models that examined the decision-making processes of adolescents relating to entry into university, in terms of the extent to which they may be amotivated and undecided. The models incorporated variables derived from self-determination theory, expectancy-value theory, and research on occupational indecision. A…

Recognizing the current administration's focus on improving postsecondary access, this study examines resource allocation patterns and the predictive power of these resources in increasing the likelihood of 2- and 4-year college enrollment among low-income students. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study, college choice decision-making…

This study explores the relationship between state financial aid policies and postsecondary enrollment for high school graduates (or equivalent diploma holders). Utilizing an event history modeling for a nationally representative sample from the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88/2000) in addition to state-level policy variables, this…

Active involvement in college activities is linked to a host of student development outcomes, including personal growth, achievement and satisfaction. Yet, to date there has been too little attention to how social class shapes campus involvement. Through an analysis of survey data of students attending a single elite university and a national…

Hispanic students are significantly over-represented in community colleges compared to White and Black students. This paper uses a powerful but underutilized statistical technique, the Oaxaca decomposition, to explore the impact of social capital, as manifested through college financial information, on Hispanic student enrollment in 4-year and…

Higher education administrators believe that revenues are linked to college rankings and act accordingly, particularly those at research universities. Although rankings are clearly influential for many schools and colleges, this fundamental assumption has yet to be tested empirically. Drawing on data from multiple resource providers in higher…

Recent studies have suggested that a causal link exists between college rankings and subsequent admissions indicators. However, it is unclear how these effects vary across institutional type (i.e., national universities vs. liberal arts colleges) or whether these effects persist when controlling for other factors that affect admissions outcomes.…