ASHE '96 Paper Abstract
Abstract

"Rising Public Tuition Prices and Enrollment in Community Colleges and Four-Year Institutions"

Donald E. Heller
Harvard University
Association for the Study of Higher Education
Annual Meeting, October, 1996
Memphis, TN

This research examined the impact of state policies regarding tuition rates and financial aid budgets on access to public higher education. The study addressed two specific issues: (1) whether undergraduate enrollment rates of students in different racial groups changed during the period 1976-94, and (2) the impact of increased tuition at public colleges and universities on students of different races. The study first analyzed trends in public higher education enrollment rates, and then applied a fixed-effects model utilizing cross-sectional and time-series data.

The study's conclusions, consistent with those of earlier studies, included the following: (1) community college students seem to be more sensitive to changes in need-based state funding than are four-year students, but the impact of changing economic conditions varies depending on the type of institution and (2) in four-year institutions, enrollment appears to be inversely related to unemployment rates, with the opposite being true in community colleges. Enrollment trend data are summarized in text and 11 figures; additional tables and figures synthesize some of the model data. An appendix provides a list of Census Bureau regions.

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