IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reihed/v60y2019i8d10.1007_s11162-018-9533-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of the Gainful Employment Regulatory Uncertainty on Student Enrollment at For-Profit Institutions of Higher Education

Author

Listed:
  • Joselynn Hawkins Fountain

    (Congressional Research Service)

Abstract

In 2010, the Obama Administration proposed new regulations designed to hold institutions of higher education (IHEs) accountable for student outcomes. I examine the effects of the regulatory uncertainty surrounding these “Gainful Employment” (GE) regulations on enrollment at for-profit IHEs. I utilize informational debt rates of GE institutions along with enrollment data from the integrated postsecondary education data system to employ a difference in difference design that compares enrollment before and after the GE regulatory proposal at for-profit IHEs to enrollment at public and nonprofit IHEs. My results suggest that for-profit IHEs experienced slower enrollment growth relative to public and nonprofit IHEs in the post-GE period. Additionally, enrollment of low-income students appeared to be disproportionately affected by the GE regulatory uncertainty.

Suggested Citation

  • Joselynn Hawkins Fountain, 2019. "The Effect of the Gainful Employment Regulatory Uncertainty on Student Enrollment at For-Profit Institutions of Higher Education," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(8), pages 1065-1089, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:60:y:2019:i:8:d:10.1007_s11162-018-9533-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11162-018-9533-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11162-018-9533-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11162-018-9533-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey R. Brown & Caroline M. Hoxby, 2014. "How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number brow12-2, June.
    2. Taryn Dinkelman & Claudia Martínez A., 2014. "Investing in Schooling In Chile: The Role of Information about Financial Aid for Higher Education," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(2), pages 244-257, May.
    3. David J. Deming & Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 2012. "The For-Profit Postsecondary School Sector: Nimble Critters or Agile Predators?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(1), pages 139-164, Winter.
    4. Adam Looney & Constantine Yannelis, 2015. "A Crisis in Student Loans? How Changes in the Characteristics of Borrowers and in the Institutions They Attended Contributed to Rising Loan Defaults," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 46(2 (Fall)), pages 1-89.
    5. Matthew Wiswall & Basit Zafar, 2015. "How Do College Students Respond to Public Information about Earnings?," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(2), pages 117-169.
    6. 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.
    7. Julian R. Betts, 1996. "What Do Students Know about Wages? Evidence from a Survey of Undergraduates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(1), pages 27-56.
    8. Knapp, Laura Greene & Seaks, Terry G, 1992. "An Analysis of the Probability of Default on Federally Guaranteed Student Loans," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(3), pages 404-411, August.
    9. Cellini, Stephanie Riegg, 2012. "For-Profit Higher Education: An Assessment of Costs and Benefits," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 65(1), pages 153-179, March.
    10. Long, Mark C. & Goldhaber, Dan & Huntington-Klein, Nick, 2015. "Do completed college majors respond to changes in wages?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-14.
    11. 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.
    12. Dynarski, Mark, 1994. "Who defaults on student loans? Findings from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 55-68, March.
    13. Eric P. Bettinger & Bridget Terry Long & Philip Oreopoulos & Lisa Sanbonmatsu, 2012. "The Role of Application Assistance and Information in College Decisions: Results from the H&R Block Fafsa Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1205-1242.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John J. Cheslock & Ozan Jaquette, 2022. "Concentrated or Fragmented? The U.S. Market for Online Higher Education," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(1), pages 33-59, February.
    2. Zachary G. Davis, 2023. "Unbundling For-Profit Higher Education: Relaxing the 90/10 Revenue Constraint," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 176-200, April.
    3. Yuqing Geng & Nan Zhao, 2020. "Measurement of sustainable higher education development: Evidence from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rajeev Darolia, 2015. "Messengers of Bad News or Bad Apples? Student Debt and College Accountability," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 10(2), pages 277-299, March.
    2. Jacqmin, Julien, 2014. "The Emergence of For-Profit Higher Education Institutions," MPRA Paper 59299, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. 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.
    4. Rajeev Darolia, 2013. "Student Loan Repayment and College Accountability," Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers 13-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    5. Bleemer, Zachary & Zafar, Basit, 2018. "Intended college attendance: Evidence from an experiment on college returns and costs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 184-211.
    6. 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.
    7. Armona, Luis & Chakrabarti, Rajashri & Lovenheim, Michael F., 2022. "Student debt and default: The role of for-profit colleges," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 67-92.
    8. 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.
    9. Stephanie Riegg Cellini & Nicholas Turner, 2019. "Gainfully Employed?: Assessing the Employment and Earnings of For-Profit College Students Using Administrative Data," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(2), pages 342-370.
    10. Hastings, Justine S. & Neilson, Christopher A. & Ramirez, Anely & Zimmerman, Seth D., 2016. "(Un)informed college and major choice: Evidence from linked survey and administrative data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 136-151.
    11. Luis Armona & Rajashri Chakrabarti & Michael F. Lovenheim, 2018. "How Does For-profit College Attendance Affect Student Loans, Defaults and Labor Market Outcomes?," NBER Working Papers 25042, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Rajeev Darolia & Dubravka Ritter, 2020. "Strategic Default Among Private Student Loan Debtors: Evidence from Bankruptcy Reform," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 15(3), pages 487-517, Summer.
    13. Goodman, Sarena & Isen, Adam & Yannelis, Constantine, 2021. "A day late and a dollar short: Liquidity and household formation among student borrowers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(3), pages 1301-1323.
    14. Stephanie Riegg Cellini & Rajeev Darolia, 2017. "High Costs, Low Resources, and Missing Information: Explaining Student Borrowing in the For-Profit Sector," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 671(1), pages 92-112, May.
    15. Lau, Christopher V., 2020. "Are federal student loan accountability regulations effective?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    16. José Alberto Fuinhas & Victor Moutinho & Estefano Silva, 2019. "Delinquency and Default in USA Student Debt as a Proportional Response to Unemployment and Average Debt per Borrower," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-16, October.
    17. Gustavo Pereira Serra, 2024. "(Trying to) Catch Up with the Higher-Skilled Joneses: Student loans in a segmented educational market from a Post-Keynesian perspective," Working Papers 2412, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    18. Rajeev Darolia & Cory Koedel & Paco Martorell & Katie Wilson & Francisco Perez‐Arce, 2015. "Do Employers Prefer Workers Who Attend For‐Profit Colleges? Evidence from a Field Experiment," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 881-903, September.
    19. Holger M. Mueller & Constantine Yannelis, 2017. "Students in Distress: Labor Market Shocks, Student Loan Default, and Federal Insurance Programs," NBER Working Papers 23284, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. 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.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:60:y:2019:i:8:d:10.1007_s11162-018-9533-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.