Price Regulation, Price Discrimination, and Equality of Opportunity in Higher Education: Evidence from Texas

Rodney J. Andrews and Kevin Stange

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2019, vol. 11, issue 4, 31-65

Abstract: We assess the importance of price regulation and price discrimination to low-income students' access to opportunities in public higher education. In 2003, Texas shifted tuition-setting authority away from the state legislature to public universities themselves. In response, most institutions raised sticker prices and many began charging more for high-earning majors, such as business and engineering. We find that poor students actually shifted toward higher earning programs following deregulation, relative to non-poor students. Deregulation facilitated more price discrimination through increased grant aid and enabled supply-side enhancements, which may have partially shielded poor students from higher sticker prices.

JEL-codes: D63 H75 I22 I23 I24 I28 I32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
Note: DOI: 10.1257/pol.20170306
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Working Paper: Price Regulation, Price Discrimination, and Equality of Opportunity in Higher Education: Evidence from Texas (2016)
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