ERIC Number: ED615390
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Sep
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Returns to College(s): Relative Value-Added and Match Effects in Higher Education. Working Paper 29276
Mountjoy, Jack; Hickman Brent R.
National Bureau of Economic Research
Students who attend different colleges in the U.S. end up with vastly different economic outcomes. We study the role of relative value-added across colleges within student choice sets in producing these outcome disparities. Linking high school, college, and earnings registries spanning the state of Texas, we identify relative college value-added by comparing the outcomes of students who apply to and are admitted by the same set of institutions, as this approach strikingly balances observable student potential across college treatments and renders our extensive set of covariates irrelevant as controls. Methodologically, we develop a framework for identifying and interpreting value-added under varying assumptions about match effects and sorting gains. Empirically, we estimate a relatively tight, though non-degenerate, distribution of relative value-added across the wide diversity of Texas public universities. Selectivity poorly predicts value-added within student choice sets, with only a fleeting selectivity earnings premium fading to zero after a few years in the labor market. Non-peer college inputs like instructional spending more strongly predict value-added, especially conditional on selectivity. Colleges that boost BA completion, especially in STEM majors, also tend to boost earnings. Finally, we probe the potential for (mis)match effects by allowing value-added schedules to vary by student characteristics. [Additional financial support was received from the Robert H. Topel Faculty Research Fund at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.]
Descriptors: Value Added Models, Higher Education, State Universities, Decision Making, College Choice, Salaries, Outcomes of Education, College Applicants, College Admission, Comparative Analysis, Guidelines, Prediction, Expenditures, Student Characteristics, High Schools, Selection Criteria, Educational Attainment, STEM Education, Education Work Relationship
National Bureau of Economic Research. 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-5398. Tel: 617-588-0343; Web site: http://www.nber.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Princeton University, Industrial Relations Section
Authoring Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research
Identifiers - Location: Texas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A