The Consequences of Academic Match between Students and Colleges

Eleanor Dillon and Jeffrey Smith ()
Additional contact information
Jeffrey Smith: University of Wisconsin-Madison

No 2018-060, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: We consider the effects of student ability, college quality, and the interaction between the two on academic outcomes and earnings using data on two cohorts of college enrollees. Student ability and college quality strongly improve degree completion and earnings for all students. We find evidence of meaningful complementarity between student ability and college quality in degree completion at four years and long-term earnings, but not in degree completion at six years or STEM degree completion. This complementarity implies some tradeoff between equity and efficiency for policies that move lower ability students to higher quality colleges.

Keywords: college education; college students; academic performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C78 D19 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lma
Note: MIP
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Dillon ... s-academic-match.pdf First version, August 27, 2018 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Consequences of Academic Match between Students and Colleges (2018)
Working Paper: The Consequences of Academic Match between Students and Colleges (2017)
Working Paper: The Consequences of Academic Match between Students and Colleges (2015)
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