ERIC Number: EJ1425713
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 30
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-1546
EISSN: EISSN-1538-4640
The Cost of Public Higher Education and College Enrollment
Taylor Delaney; Dave E. Marcotte
Journal of Higher Education, v95 n4 p496-525 2024
How have changes in the price of enrolling full time at public 2- and 4-year colleges affected student decisions about whether and where to enroll in college? Using local differences in the growth of tuition at community colleges and public 4-year colleges, we study the impact of public higher education tuition prices on the post-secondary enrollment decisions of high school graduates over three decades. We model prospective students' decisions about whether to attend community college, a public four-year university in their state of residence, other colleges, or no college at all, as relative prices change. We identify enrollment impacts by instrumenting tuition prices using policy variation imposed by state appropriations and tuition caps. We estimate that in counties where local community college tuition doubled (about an average for the study period), the likelihood of post-secondary enrollment fell by about 0.05, on a mean of about 0.80. In addition to reducing college enrollment overall, rising tuition at community colleges diverted other students to four-year colleges. Rising relative prices of four-year public colleges similarly diverted some students toward community colleges but did not limit college attendance in the aggregate. We also find evidence of endogeneity in tuition-setting at the institution level.
Descriptors: Longitudinal Studies, Public Colleges, Higher Education, College Enrollment, Paying for College, Student Costs, Tuition, College Choice
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NCES); Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (NCES); High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (NCES)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A