Undocumented immigrants face learning, compliance, and psychological costs when confronting in-state resident tuition (ISRT) policy implementation. Building on administrative burdens scholarship and using qualitative data from 19 semi-structured interviews with undocumented youth immigrants, this article examines administrative burdens that may…

This dissertation presents evidence about implementing a free college policy on higher education's demand and supply. This analysis includes descriptive evidence about the impact of the policy on students and programs' behavior. It also develops and estimates a demand and supply model of higher education that provides a framework to analyze the…

Proposed "free college" policies vary widely in design. The simplest set tuition to zero for everyone. More targeted approaches limit free tuition to those who demonstrate need through an application process. We experimentally test the effects of these two models on the schooling decisions of low-income students. An unconditional free…

In the United States, some states allow undocumented immigrants to benefit from in-state resident tuition policy at public colleges and universities, a benefit aimed at improving accessibility to higher education. Yet, undocumented immigrants face bureaucratic procedures and requirements that may discourage them from applying and delay or hamper…

A college degree enables upward financial mobility--a college graduate's lifetime earnings are over 80% greater than those without a degree. Yet, systemic societal and educational constructs can create hurdles for students--particularly those who are historically underserved (e.g., Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and low-income students)--to gain…

Undocumented immigrant students represent 2% of the total U.S. higher education population. Due to their citizenship status, many undocumented high school students encounter barriers to college access including prohibitive admissions policies, increased tuition rates, and funding restrictions. Some undocumented students experience anxiety,…

Low-income students, even those with strong academic credentials, are unlikely to attend a highly selective college. With a field experiment, we test an intervention to increase enrollment of low-income students at the highly selective University of Michigan. We contact students (as well as their parents and principals) with an encouragement to…

Free college programs have been around for some time, but they have proliferated in recent years, prompted by rising college costs, mounting student debt, and the United States' urgent need for a more educated workforce. But while these free college, or "promise" programs have the potential to make a higher education more affordable and…

Between 2002 and 2013, the Higher Education Policy Institute produced a number of reports that discussed trends in demand for higher education and factors that would influence future demand, focusing on demand in England only. This report reviews how things stand now, in the very different policy environment to that which existed in 2011, and…

Parents from all backgrounds and walks of life want to do the best for their children. Unfortunately, for many reasons, this is easier for some more than others. Those with more money, education and confidence are more able to give their children the best possible chance of succeeding in the educational system and beyond. This is a key challenge…

Identifying the best set of colleges to which to apply is not a simple task. The importance of any one application depends on the likely outcomes of other applications, and this logic and information is difficult to grasp for anyone, let alone high school students. To simplify this task, the College Board recommends that students submit a total of…

Today a college degree is considered the ticket to a good job and the gateway to economic advancement. A student's chances of gaining admission to college, however, are often based more on parental wealth than the student's achievements. At the nation's most selective colleges, three percent of incoming freshmen come from families in the bottom…

I develop and structurally estimate an equilibrium model of the college market. Students, who are heterogeneous in both abilities and preferences, make college application decisions, subject to uncertainty and application costs. Colleges observe only noisy measures of student ability and set up tuition and admissions policies to compete for more…

In the first decade of the 21st century, the nation, the states, and colleges and universities began to grapple with the challenges of globalization, changing demography, the implications of the digital era, and of a less expansive public sector. Although not a transformative period for higher education, the decade saw significant innovations in…

The Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) regularly evaluates the experience of international students in Canada through a benchmarking survey. Canada First 2009 represents the fourth time CBIE has conducted this research. Previous editions appeared in 1988, 1999 and 2004. This year's survey used a revised questionnaire similar to…