The Role of Labour Market Expectations and Admission Probabilities in Students' Application Decisions on Higher Education: The Case of HungaryEducation Economics, 2006, vol. 14, issue 3, pages 309-327 Abstract: This paper analyses students’ application strategies to higher education, the effects of labour market expectations and admission probabilities. The starting hypothesis of this study is that students consider the expected utility of their choices, a function of expected net lifetime earnings and the probability of admission. Based on a survey carried out among Hungarian secondary school students, three aspects of application decisions are investigated: the number of applications; the selection between state-funded and cost-priced education; and the institutions/field specialization ranked first and last in students’ choices. The results of this paper confirm that both expected wages and admission probabilities determine students’ application strategies and that the seemingly irrational student preferences for institutions/orientations with less favourable labour market opportunities might be the result of a rational decision process. Keywords: Human capital; higher education; field of study; earnings expectations (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Education Economics is edited by Steve Bradley More articles in Education Economics from Taylor and Francis Journals |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
Econpapers is hosted by the
Swedish Business School at Örebro University.