We explore evidence on the perceived economic value of higher education to college
students in terms of their reported expected and shadow wages. Our estimates provide
predictions for expected wages that are similar across gender and become closer to
actual wages as students approach graduation. This is consistent with an improvement
in the quality of student information used to forecast wages. Shadow wages relative to
expected wages increase during the academic year for men and are constant for women,
which is consistent with the higher reluctance of women to drop out of university.
Finally, students with lower socioeconomic background and poor performance exhibit a
higher propensity to drop out