Rising Tuition and Enrollment in Public Higher Education

In this paper we review recent trends in tuition at public universities and estimate impacts on enrollment. We use data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System on all public four-year colleges and universities from 1991 to 2007 and illustrate that tuition increased dramatically beginning in the early part of this decade, increasing at rates unprecedented in the past half century. We examine impacts of these tuition increases on total enrollment and credit hours, and estimate differences by type of institution. We estimate that the average tuition and fee elasticity of total headcount is -0.1072. So, at the mean a $100 increase in tuition and fees (in 2006 dollars) would lead to a decline in enrollment of a little more than 0.25 percent, with larger effects at Research I universities. We find no evidence that especially large increases from one year to the next have a disproportionately large negative effect on enrollment.higher education, tuition, enrollment

School Entry, Compulsory Schooling, and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Michigan

Abstract Extant research on school entry and compulsory schooling laws finds that these policies increase the high school graduation rate of relatively younger students, but weaken their academic performance in early grades. In this paper, we explore the evolution of postsecondary impacts of the interaction of school entry and compulsory schooling laws in Michigan. We employ a regression-discontinuity (RD) design using longitudinal administrative data to examine effects on high school performance, college enrollment, choice, and persistence. On average, we find that children eligible to start school at a relatively younger age are more likely to complete high school, but underperform while enrolled, compared to their counterparts eligible to start school at a relatively older age. In turn, these students are 2 percentage points more likely to first attend a two-year college and enroll in fewer total postsecondary semesters, relative to their older counterparts. We explore heterogeneity in these effects across subgroups of students defined by gender and poverty status. For example, we illustrate that the increase in the high school graduation rate of relatively younger students attributable to the combination of school entry and compulsory schooling laws is driven entirely by impacts on economically disadvantaged students

School Entry, Compulsory Schooling, and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Michigan

Abstract Extant research on school entry and compulsory schooling laws finds that these policies increase the high school graduation rate of relatively younger students, but weaken their academic performance in early grades. In this paper, we explore the evolution of postsecondary impacts of the interaction of school entry and compulsory schooling laws in Michigan. We employ a regression-discontinuity (RD) design using longitudinal administrative data to examine effects on high school performance, college enrollment, choice, and persistence. On average, we find that children eligible to start school at a relatively younger age are more likely to complete high school, but underperform while enrolled, compared to their counterparts eligible to start school at a relatively older age. In turn, these students are 2 percentage points more likely to first attend a two-year college and enroll in fewer total postsecondary semesters, relative to their older counterparts. We explore heterogeneity in these effects across subgroups of students defined by gender and poverty status. For example, we illustrate that the increase in the high school graduation rate of relatively younger students attributable to the combination of school entry and compulsory schooling laws is driven entirely by impacts on economically disadvantaged students

Do Teacher Assistants Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence From School Funding Cutbacks in North Carolina

This article examines the influence of teacher assistants and other personnel on outcomes for elementary school students during a period of recession-induced cutbacks in teacher assistants. Using panel data from North Carolina, we exploit the state’s unique system of financing its local public schools to identify the causal effects of teacher assistants, controlling for other staff, on measures of student achievement. We find consistent evidence of positive effects of teacher assistants, an understudied staffing category, on student performance in reading and math. We also find larger positive effects of teacher assistants on achievement outcomes for students of color and students in high-poverty schools than for White students and students in more affluent schools. We conclude that teacher assistants are a cost-effective means of raising student achievement, especially in reading

Grads on the Go: Measuring College-Specific Labor Markets for Graduates

This paper introduces a new measure of the labor markets served by colleges and universities across the United States. About 50 percent of recent college graduates are living and working in the metro area nearest the institution they attended, with this figure climbing to 67 percent in-state. The geographic dispersion of alumni is more than twice as great for highly selective 4-year institutions as for 2-year institutions. However, more than one-quarter of 2-year institutions disperse alumni more diversely than the average public 4-year institution. In one application of these data, we find that the average strength of the labor market to which a college sends its graduates predicts college-specific intergenerational economic mobility. In a second application, we quantify the extent of “brain drain” across areas and illustrate the importance of considering migration patterns of college graduates when estimating the social return on public investment in higher education

Essays in Education Policy: Accountability, Achievement, and Access

Over the past decade, education policy in America has received considerable media, academic, and political attention. This renewed attention has been brought on by the growing economic and social importance of education. With this increasing importance came closer scrutiny into how well students, teachers, and the system at large are performing. In this series of essays, I examine three questions in K-12 and higher education that inform this overarching concern. In the first essay, I explore whether the sanctions outlined in the most important piece of federal education legislation in the past quarter decade, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), improve students' academic performance. Using panel data on Maryland schools, I exploit the manner in which schools are flagged as failures to estimate the achievement impacts of a few specific consequences of failure. While I find that failure and the sanctions tied to poor performance have no or negative impacts on future school-level performance, the threat of possible failure derived from almost but not quite failing may motivate increased performance in passing schools. Second, I turn to educational inputs and examine the role of teacher absences in student performance as well as racial/ethnic achievement gaps at the high school level. I explore the learning impacts of both the marginal missed day as well as of higher levels of teacher absence. I also characterize the magnitudes of current gaps in math and reading performance across student racial/ethnic subgroups. I find evidence across schools that more teacher absences lead to lower student performance; yet, controlling for school quality severely diminishes these negative impacts. In the final essay, I describe the substantial increases in college tuition costs that took place over the past decade and a half. I then examine student enrollment response to exceptionally large year-to-year tuition increases. While I find some evidence that students respond in disproportionate ways to very large tuition increases, there is considerable heterogeneity across different types of public four-year institutions in this response. Finally, I use parameters estimated in this essay to predict the short- and long-run revenue implications of large tuition hikes for the average institution

Childhood Educational Interventions: Experimental Evidence on Postsecondary Impacts

The overarching goal of policy interventions for children is to improve long-term outcomes such as educational attainment, health, and earnings. Yet, mostly due to data and budget limitations, numerous evaluations of such programs assess their effectiveness by examining impacts on a variety of short-run outcomes, such as contemporaneous standardized test scores. In this paper, I examine the long-term impacts of two randomly assigned elementary school interventions on kids’ postsecondary attendance, persistence, and completion

Essays in Education Policy: Accountability, Achievement, and Access

Over the past decade, education policy in America has received considerable media, academic, and political attention. This renewed attention has been brought on by the growing economic and social importance of education. With this increasing importance came closer scrutiny into how well students, teachers, and the system at large are performing. In this series of essays, I examine three questions in K-12 and higher education that inform this overarching concern. In the first essay, I explore whether the sanctions outlined in the most important piece of federal education legislation in the past quarter decade, NCLB (No Child Left Behind), improve students' academic performance. Using panel data on Maryland schools, I exploit the manner in which schools are flagged as failures to estimate the achievement impacts of a few specific consequences of failure. While I find that failure and the sanctions tied to poor performance have no or negative impacts on future school-level performance, the threat of possible failure derived from almost but not quite failing may motivate increased performance in passing schools. Second, I turn to educational inputs and examine the role of teacher absences in student performance as well as racial/ethnic achievement gaps at the high school level. I explore the learning impacts of both the marginal missed day as well as of higher levels of teacher absence. I also characterize the magnitudes of current gaps in math and reading performance across student racial/ethnic subgroups. I find evidence across schools that more teacher absences lead to lower student performance; yet, controlling for school quality severely diminishes these negative impacts. In the final essay, I describe the substantial increases in college tuition costs that took place over the past decade and a half. I then examine student enrollment response to exceptionally large year-to-year tuition increases. While I find some evidence that students respond in disproportionate ways to very large tuition increases, there is considerable heterogeneity across different types of public four-year institutions in this response. Finally, I use parameters estimated in this essay to predict the short- and long-run revenue implications of large tuition hikes for the average institution

Performance effects of failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP): Evidence from a regression discontinuity framework

As the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law moves through the reauthorization process, it is important to understand the basic performance impacts of its central structure of accountability. In this paper, I examine the effects of failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under NCLB on subsequent student math and reading performance at the school level. Using panel data on Maryland elementary and middle schools from 2003 to 2009, I find that the scope of failure matters: Academic performance suffers in the short run in response to school-wide failure. However, schools that meet achievement targets for the aggregate student group, yet fail to meet at least one demographic subgroup's target see between 3 and 6 percent more students in the failing subgroup score proficiently the following year, compared to if no accountability pressure were in place. I discuss alternative interpretations and policy implications of the main findings.Accountability NCLB Student performance Sanctions