Charging for Higher Education: Estimating the Impact on Inequality and Student Outcomes

Ghazala Azmat and Ştefania Simion
Additional contact information
Ştefania Simion: University of Bristol [Bristol], CEP - LSE - Centre for Economic Performance - LSE - London School of Economics and Political Science

SciencePo Working papers Main from HAL

Abstract: Over the last two decades, undergraduate university education in England moved from being state-funded and free for students, to costing all students substantial amounts in tuition fees. In this paper, using detailed administrative longitudinal microdata that follow all students attending state schools in England (approximately 95% of student population), we causally show that, despite the substantial reforms, enrollment fell only by 0.5 percentage points, where the effect is largely borne by those in wealthier groups, reducing the enrolment gap across socio-economic groups. Since tuition fees were introduced in conjunction with the government offering generous means-tested maintenance (cash) grants, as well as loans, our results highlight the importance of reducing financing constraints. Beyond enrollment, we find that the reforms have limited impact on students' higher education choices, such as relocation decisions, university choice, and field of study. Finally, by tracking the students after graduation, we show similarly small effects on labor market outcomes.

Keywords: Higher education; Inequality; Tuition fees; Means-tested support; Career outcomes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-02-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03873819v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in The B.E. journal of economic analysis & policy, 2021, 21 (1), pp.175-239. ⟨10.1515/bejeap-2020-0099⟩

Downloads: (external link)
https://sciencespo.hal.science/hal-03873819v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Charging for Higher Education: Estimating the Impact on Inequality and Student Outcomes (2021)
Working Paper: Charging for Higher Education: Estimating the Impact on Inequality and Student Outcomes (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03873819

DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2020-0099

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SciencePo Working papers Main from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Contact - Sciences Po Departement of Economics ().