Bradley R. Curs

An analysis of the application and enrollment processes for in-state and out-of-state students at a large public university

Abstract This paper extends prior work by jointly modeling the application and enrollment decision for in-state and out-of-state freshmen at a large public university. Two separate empirical analyses use individual and aggregate time-series data for the University of Oregon to estimate and compare the responsiveness of applicants and enrollees to person-specific and time-specific variation in the net price. The results show that prior studies may understate student price responsiveness by separately focusing on the application or enrollment decision. Moreover, the elasticity estimates are found to differ for in-state and out-of-state students and can be sensitive to whether the price variation occurs across individuals or over time.

HOPE for the Pell? Institutional Effects in the Intersection of Merit-Based and Need-Based Aid

Prior empirical evidence finds that general enrollment effects of merit-aid programs such as the Georgia Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally (HOPE) scholarship are large and significant, while the effects of need-based aid programs such as the Pell grant are modest and often insignificant. This paper uses new panel data on Pell awards to examine the influence of the Georgia HOPE scholarship on needy-student enrollments. We demonstrate that the introduction of merit aid in Georgia generally improves the college access of needy students and has been leveraged into greater federal Pell assistance. While institution-specific increases in both Pell enrollment and funding are largest at two-year and less selective four-year institutions, the results suggest that Pell students are not crowded out of more selective schools by HOPEs intent to retain the best Georgia high school students, as might have been anticipated.

Aim High or Go Low? Pricing Strategies and Enrollment Effects When the Net Price Elasticity Varies with Need and Ability

Detailed data on individual applicants to a large public university are used to demonstrate that net price responsiveness decreases with need and ability. Enrollment effects are simulated and show a movement towards a high tuition/high aid (low tuition/low aid) policy significantly lowers (raises) tuition revenue with a modest increase (decrease) in the number of aid-eligible students.

The Pell Program at Thirty Years

THE PELL PROGRAM AT THIRTY YEARS For more than 30 years the Pell program has provided a voucherlike subsidy, for low-income students who apply for financial aid, to any qualifying college or university in the country. In 2005, the Pell program provided over

Social Studies Progress Monitoring and Intervention for Middle School Students

12 billion in grants to more than a fifth of all college students. However, despite the significant resources spent on need-based financial aid in the United States, the gap between lowand high-income students’ matriculation rates into post-secondary education has not only persisted but has widened in the last three decades (e.g., Ellwood & Kane, 2000). Disparate college attainment across socio-economic status is of particular concern to policy makers and university administrators because the percentage difference in earnings between college and high-school graduates has grown dramatically over the same period – from 19 percent in 1980 to 50 percent in 1997, for 25 to 34-year-old males. Combined with above-inflation increases in the cost of college and an increasing proportion of college-age students attending colleges these factors have contributed to mounting pressure by consumers, providers, and overseers of higher education to reform the Pell program and other components of the U.S. financial aid system (e.g., McPherson & Schapiro, 1997; Ehrenberg, 2000). To the extent that potential shortcomings of the system may be mitigated by a serious account of the related academic literature, our analysis aims to inform future policy proposals on the quantifiable outcomes of Pell on the access, choice, and persistence of low-income students. ∗Department of Economics, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1285. Phone (541) 346–4672. E-maxil: lsingell@uoregon.edu

Tuition Rich, Mission Poor: Nonresident Enrollment Growth and the Socioeconomic and Racial Composition of Public Research Universities

This study examined the technical adequacy of vocabulary-matching curriculum-based measurement (CBM) to identify and monitor the progress of 148 middle school students in social studies. In addition, the effectiveness of a reading comprehension intervention, Collaborative Strategic Reading (Klingner, Vaughn, Dimino, Schumm, & Bryant, 2001), was examined across 8 weeks with 15 low-achieving middle school readers who were monitored with content-area reading passages. Results indicated vocabulary-matching CBMs are valid and reliable indicators of performance in social studies. Significant differences were found for the intervention group on performance on pre to post vocabulary-matching CBM scores. Difference-in-Differences regression models were used to examine differences between groups on pre–post measures. No significant differences were found between groups in weekly change in scores or trend in performance on vocabulary-matching CBM.

Financial Aid and First-Year Collegiate GPA: A Regression Discontinuity Approach

Abstract:Many public research universities fail to enroll a critical mass of low-income and under-represented minority (URM) students. Though founded with a commitment to access, public research universities face pressure to increase tuition revenue and to recruit high-achieving students. These pressures create an incentive to recruit nonresident students, who tend to pay more tuition and score higher on admissions exams, but who also tend to be richer and are less likely be Black or Latino. This paper examines whether the growing share of nonresident students was associated with a declining share of low-income and URM students at public research universities. Institution-level panel models revealed that growth in the proportion of nonresident students was associated with a decline in the proportion of low-income students. This negative relationship was stronger at prestigious universities and at universities in high-poverty states. Growth in the proportion of nonresident students was also associated with a decline in the proportion of URM students. This negative relationship was stronger at prestigious universities, universities in states with large minority populations, and universities in states with affirmative action bans. These findings yield insights about the changing character of public research universities and have implications for the campus climate experienced by low-income and URM students.

Do Institutions Respond Asymmetrically to Changes in State Need- and Merit-Based Aid?

Using a regression discontinuity design, we investigate whether a merit-based financial aid program has a causal effect on the first-year grade point average of first-time out-of-state freshmen at the University of Oregon. Our results indicate that merit-based financial aid has a positive and significant effect on first-year collegiate grade point average. Further, we find that this positive relationship between financial aid and grade point average exists for both low-income students and students of color.

Money for Nothing? The Impact of Changes in the Pell Grant Program on Institutional Revenues and the Placement of Needy Students

In the past two decades, states have implemented quite different financial aid policies with respect to whether they support the academic merit or financial need of students. However, there is still limited knowledge of the distributive consequences of these practices and the connection between state policy goals and actual net costs faced by students. This study builds upon our previous research by asking whether institutions respond through changing net price disproportionately to the policy priorities established through alternative merit- and/or needsbased state financial aid programs. We find that both public and private institutions lowered their listed tuitions and fees levels when states increased merit-based financial aid, indicating that institutions may be competing with each other for high ability students. Conversely, we find that higher education institutions raise net-price and lower their average institutional financial aid award when their states increase need-based awards, and indication that they are capturing increased state financial generosity. Our study highlights one of the mechanisms through which state spending on student aid may, or may not contribute to the achievement of the declared objectives of state government, such as increased access, increased retention, and an increase in the number of graduates in particular geographic and employment areas.

Crowded Out? The Effect of Nonresident Enrollment on Resident Access to Public Research Universities

Using new institutional-level data, we assess the impact of changing federal aid levels on institutional-level Pell revenues. Using various policy instruments associated with Pell generosity, we quantify the sensitivity of institutional Pell revenues to the generosity of the Pell Grant program. In general, we find an elastic response of institutional Pell revenues with respect to the maximum Pell award, where other policy instruments associated with Pell generosity are found to have an inelastic or zero impact. We also document significant asymmetries across institutional selectivity, both in magnitude and in terms of which channel accounts for the measured sensitivity—award values directly or institutional enrollment. In the end, exogenous changes in the federal Pell Grant program are found to correlate strongly with changes in the distribution of needy students and revenues across institutional quality.