AERA '98 Abstract

AERA '98 AbstractAbstract

"Access to Public Higher Education, 1976 to 1994"

Donald E. Heller
University of Michigan
Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education

American Educational Research Association
Annual Meeting, April, 1998
San Diego, CA

Public colleges and universities have long been the main point of access to postsecondary education for the majority of students in this country, with approximately 80% of all undergraduates attending public institutions in the United States. Historically, low public tuition prices have worked to ensure access to a college education for all students. As these colleges and universities have increased their tuition prices in recent years, however, access by poor and minority students, who have traditionally been underrepresented in higher education, may be particularly at risk. With very few exceptions, there has been little published research on the impact of the price increases that have occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, with a focus on public higher education.

This paper session will present the results of research conducted into the relationship between public college and university tuition prices, financial aid expenditures, and access to public postsecondary education by students from four racial/ethnic groups: White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian-American. The primary research questions addressed in this study are:

To what extent are differing tuition levels related to the public undergraduate enrollment rates of students from different racial/ethnic groups in each state?
Are state financial aid expenditures related to these enrollment rates of each group?

The objective of the study is to determine whether increases in tuition prices and reductions in financial aid availability have had disproportionate effects on access to public higher education by students from these different racial/ethnic groups.

Most of the previous research on these questions has used either cross-sectional or time-series methodologies to address these issues. Both methodologies have weaknesses which limit their usefulness in analyzing college enrollment behavior. The analysis here combines both cross-sectional and time-series econometric techniques through panel data analysis to take advantage of the strengths of each to address these questions. In order to account for the autocorrelative nature of the enrollment data, general estimating equations (a form of general linear models) are used as an alternative to ordinary least squares regression techniques.

The key findings from this study include:

Increases in tuition lead to declines in public college enrollments, ceteris paribus, with community college students most responsive to tuition increases.
Decreases in state grant spending lead to declines in enrollment, with the effect largest among community college students.
Blacks are slightly more sensitive to tuition increases than White students, with Hispanics more sensitive than Blacks. Asian-American students exhibit the largest enrollment response of any of the four groups.
In general, the enrollments of the three minority groups respond more to changes in state grant spending than does that of White students.

The answers to the questions in this study will be of great benefit to those state policy makers responsible for establishing tuition charges and financial aid expenditures. If the impact of rising prices does differ from group to group, states need to adapt their policies to ensure the goal of equality of access to public higher education.

Click here for the paper.