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The Effects of Mandatory and Free College Admission Testing on College Enrollment and Completion

Author

Listed:
  • Vansuch, Mary
Abstract
Between the years 2001 and 2015, twenty-three states and the District of Columbia implemented a policy providing mandatory and free college admission exams (ACT or SAT) to all public high school juniors. As such, the policy reduced to zero out of pocket expenses for exam fees, and likely reduced out-of-pocket expenses for exam preparation, because schools might have been induced to provide such a service in-house. The policy also reduced the time cost of test taking because the test is administered during class time and at a student’s school. Because the mandatory exam is administered during the junior year, the policy may also have increased the amount of information a student has about her college prospects earlier on in her decision making process. In this paper I hypothesize that the decreased costs and increased information may induce more students to apply to and enroll in college. I use both college-level longitudinal data (IPEDS) along with cross-sectional student-level data (ACS) to test these predictions. Specifically, I exploit the fact that not all states implemented the policy and that those which did so implemented the policy at different points in time. In the college-level analysis, I find that the average college saw an increase in about 88 enrolled students and 460 applications from the policy without any effect on their graduation rates. In the individual-level analysis, I find that treated individuals have approximately 1.03 times the odds of untreated individuals of attending college. In the appendix I propose a model for the decision to apply, enroll, and complete college.

Suggested Citation

  • Vansuch, Mary, 2017. "The Effects of Mandatory and Free College Admission Testing on College Enrollment and Completion," MPRA Paper 82262, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:82262
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/82262/1/MPRA_paper_82262.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Terry Long, B.Bridget, 2004. "How have college decisions changed over time? An application of the conditional logistic choice model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1-2), pages 271-296.
    2. Amanda Pallais, 2013. "Small Differences that Matter: Mistakes in Applying to College," NBER Working Papers 19480, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Sarena Goodman, 2016. "Learning from the Test: Raising Selective College Enrollment by Providing Information," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(4), pages 671-684, October.
    4. Susan E. Mayer & Ariel Kalil & Philip Oreopoulos & Sebastian Gallegos, 2015. "Using Behavioral Insights to Increase Parental Engagement: The Parents and Children Together (PACT) Intervention," NBER Working Papers 21602, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Christopher Avery & Thomas J. Kane, 2004. "Student Perceptions of College Opportunities. The Boston COACH Program," NBER Chapters, in: College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay For It, pages 355-394, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economics of education; education; educational attainment; college admissions; economics; economics of decision making; behavioral economics; act; sat;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • H0 - Public Economics - - General
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I22 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Educational Finance; Financial Aid
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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