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Choice of for-profit college

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  • Chung, Anna S.

Abstract

In this paper I investigate whether students self-select into the U.S. for-profit colleges or whether the choice of for-profit sector is accidental or due to the reasons external to the students (geographic exposure to for-profit providers, tuition pricing, or random circumstances). The main student-level data samples come from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) and the associated Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS:2000). I estimate a multinomial logit of college choice and find that students self-select into for-profit colleges and that the choice of for-profit college is affected by community college tuition. The probability of a student choosing a for-profit college is also heavily influenced by the student's socioeconomic background and parental involvement in the student's schooling. The students with higher school absenteeism are more likely to enroll into for-profit college. Finally, the concentration of for-profit colleges in the student's county is important for the choice of for-profit college.

Suggested Citation

  • Chung, Anna S., 2012. "Choice of for-profit college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1084-1101.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:31:y:2012:i:6:p:1084-1101
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2012.07.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephanie R. Cellini & Rajeev Darolia & Lesley J. Turner, 2020. "Where Do Students Go When For-Profit Colleges Lose Federal Aid?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 46-83, May.
    2. Stephanie Riegg Cellini & Claudia Goldin, 2014. "Does Federal Student Aid Raise Tuition? New Evidence on For-Profit Colleges," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 174-206, November.
    3. Gilpin, Gregory A. & Saunders, Joseph & Stoddard, Christiana, 2015. "Why has for-profit colleges’ share of higher education expanded so rapidly? Estimating the responsiveness to labor market changes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 53-63.
    4. Caviris, Nicole Stefanie, 2014. "Educational attainment, college major choice, the gender wage gap, and average starting salaries of college graduates in the United States, 1967-2011," ISU General Staff Papers 201401010800004865, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    5. Cellini, Stephanie Riegg & Chaudhary, Latika, 2014. "The labor market returns to a for-profit college education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 125-140.
    6. Oded Gurantz & Ryan Sakoda & Sahyak Sarkar, 2021. "How Does the Elimination of State Aid to For-Profit Colleges Affect Enrollment? Evidence from California’s Reforms," Upjohn Working Papers 21-356, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    7. Webber, Douglas A., 2017. "Risk-sharing and student loan policy: Consequences for students and institutions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-9.
    8. Luis Miguel Dos Santos, 2020. "How do for-Profit Colleges and Universities Maintain Enrolment Rates to continue their Financial Health," Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, vol. 7(1), pages 69-75.
    9. Sarena Goodman & Alice Henriques Volz, 2020. "Attendance Spillovers between Public and For-Profit Colleges: Evidence from Statewide Variation in Appropriations for Higher Education," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 15(3), pages 428-456, Summer.
    10. Michael Kaganovich & Xuejuan Su, 2019. "College curriculum, diverging selectivity, and enrollment expansion," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 67(4), pages 1019-1050, June.
    11. Chung, Anna, 2008. "The Effects of For-Profit College Training on Earnings," MPRA Paper 18972, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised May 2009.
    12. Jacqmin, Julien, 2014. "The Emergence of For-Profit Higher Education Institutions," MPRA Paper 59299, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Chung, Anna, 2008. "For-Profit Student Heterogeneity," MPRA Paper 18967, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Nov 2009.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    College choice; For-profit; Information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • H44 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Goods: Mixed Markets
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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