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Cited by 181Higher Education Research StudiesSchool Choice and PerformanceEducation and Public Policy

The Impact of Price Caps and Spending Cuts on U.S. Postsecondary Attainment

Open access
Deming, David, Walters, Christopher·2017·National Bureau of Economic Research
DOI 10.3386/w23736
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Abstract

Increasing the postsecondary attainment rate of college-age youth is an important economic priority in the U.S. and in other developed countries.Yet little is known about whether different forms of public subsidy can increase degree completion.In this paper, we compare the impact of the marginal taxpayer dollar on postsecondary attainment when it is spent on lowering tuition prices versus increasing the quality of the college experience.We do so by estimating the causal impact of changes in tuition and spending on enrollment and degree completion in U.S. public postsecondary institutions between 1990 and 2013.We estimate these impacts using a newly assembled data set of legislative tuition caps and freezes, combined with variation in exposure to state budget shocks that is driven by differences in historical reliance on state appropriations.We find large impacts of spending on enrollment and degree completion.In contrast, we find no impact of price changes.Our estimates suggest that spending increases are more effective perdollar than price cuts as a means of increasing postsecondary attainment.

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  • Enrollment and attainment outcomes for public institutions are more sensitive to college expenditure shocks than to sticker price shocks.

    “Deming and Walters (2017) find that enrollment and attainment outcomes for public institutions are more sensitive to college expenditure shocks than to sticker price shocks.”

    From College Costs, Financial Aid, and Student Decisions (2022) · cites this paper as Deming and Walters (2017)

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4 of the 56 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Angrist, J. D. and J.-S. Pischke (2009): Mostly Harmless Econometrics, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  2. Barr, A. and S. E. Turner (2013): "Expanding enrollments and contracting state budgets: the effect of the great recession on higher education," The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 650, 168-193.
  3. Card, D. (2001): "Immigrant inflows, native outflows, and the local market impacts of higher immigration," Journal of Labor Economics, 19, 22-64.
  4. Deming, D. and S. Dynarski (2010): "College aid," in Targeting Investments in Children: Fighting Poverty When Resources are Limited, ed. by P. B. Levine and D. J. Zimmerman, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, chap. 10, 283-302.
  5. Ginsberg, B. (2011): The Fall of the Faculty, Oxford University Press.

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Authors
Deming, D., & Walters, C.
Affiliations
National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
ORCID
Deming, David
Venue
National Bureau of Economic Research
Publisher
National Bureau of Economic Research
Published
2017-08
DOI
10.3386/w23736
OpenAlex
W2749056983
Cited by
181
References
56
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 1
Type
report
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • National Bureau of Economic Research (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
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
postsecondary attainment, tuition freeze, higher education funding, graduation, college enrollment, state appropriations, government subsidies, college affordability, higher education policy

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