Effects of Reduced Community College Tuition on College Choices and Degree Completion
Abstract
Recent efforts to increase college access and completion concentrate on reducing tuition rates at community colleges, but researchers and policy makers alike have expressed concern that such reductions may not lead to long-term gains in college completion. In this paper, I use detailed data on students’ college enrollment and completion outcomes to study how community college tuition rates affect students’ outcomes across both public and private colleges. By exploiting spatial variation in tuition rates, I find that reducing tuition at a student's local community college by $1,000 increases enrollment at the college by 3.5 percentage points (18 percent) and reduces enrollment at non-local community colleges, for-profit institutions, and other private, vocationally focused colleges, by 1.9 percentage points (15 percent). This shift in enrollment choices increases students’ persistence in college, credit completion, and the probability that they transfer to and earn bachelor's degrees from four-year colleges.
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Acton (2021) finds significantly higher bachelor's degree attainment for students who live just within a geographic boundary making them eligible for reduced community college tuition.
“she finds significantly higher bachelor's degree attainment for students who live just within a geographic boundary making them eligible for reduced community college tuition.”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Acton (2021)
Students who live within a given community college taxing district face lower prices than similar students living just outside district boundaries.
“students who live within a given district face lower prices than similar students living just outside district boundaries (Acton, 2021;Denning, 2017;Martorell, McCall & McFarlin, 2014).”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Acton, 2021
Acton (2021) finds significant reductions in private vocational (predominantly for-profit) college enrollment and no significant reduction in four-year enrollment.
“Acton (2021) further finds significant reductions in private vocational (predominantly for-profit) college enrollment and no significant reduction in four-year enrollment.”
From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Acton (2021)
Cites
Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility
Chetty, R., Friedman, J., Saez, E., Turner, N., & Yagan, D. (2017) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w23618 · Cited by 632 · cited 4× · see citing works
“Given that the annual median family income of Michigan’s community college students is approximately $60,000 (Chetty et al. 2017), this represents a difference of approximately 2.”
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College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions
Dynarski, S., Page, L., & Scott-Clayton, J. (2022) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w30275 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
- Authors
- Acton, R.
- Affiliations
- Miami University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Acton, Riley
- ORCID
- Acton, Riley
- Venue
- Education Finance and Policy
- Publisher
- MIT Press
- Published
- 2021
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 388-417
- ISSN
- 1557-3060 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-3079
- OpenAlex
- W3016639464
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 4.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Education Finance and Policy (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Education and Public Policy
- Keywords
- tuition reduction, college enrollment, graduation, college persistence, college transfer, for-profit colleges, private colleges, college access
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