Gone with the wind? Impacts of hurricanes on college enrollment and completion

Fanyu Liu, Kerui Geng and Feng Chen

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2025, vol. 133, issue C

Abstract: Hurricanes have significant and growing economic impacts. While the physical destruction is immediately visible, the disruptions to education and their long-term effects on human capital are often less apparent. This study examines the impact of hurricanes on U.S. higher education enrollment and completion using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and a Differences-in-Differences Event Study approach. We find that two-year colleges experience an approximately 10 % decline in both enrollment and the number of degrees and certifications awarded within a decade following a hurricane, whereas four-year institutions exhibit no significant effects. The impact is more pronounced in institutions exposed to higher hurricane intensity and frequency, public two-year colleges, and those with a greater reliance on local student populations and higher admission rates. These effects appear to be driven by shifts in migration patterns, declines in high school graduates, and local labor market disruptions. Our findings suggest that targeted government disaster aid for community colleges could be more effective.

Keywords: Hurricane; Natural disaster; Human capital; College enrollment; College completion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 J24 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095069625000877
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
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:eee:jeeman:v:133:y:2025:i:c:s0095069625000877

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2025.103203

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is currently edited by M.A. Cole, A. Lange, D.J. Phaneuf, D. Popp, M.J. Roberts, M.D. Smith, C. Timmins, Q. Weninger and A.J. Yates

More articles in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().