Gender Differences in University Enrollment and STEM Major: The Role of Tuition Policy in Australia

Katherine Cuff (), Ana Gamarra Rondinel () and A. Abigail Payne ()
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Katherine Cuff: McMaster University, https://experts.mcmaster.ca/display/cuffk
Ana Gamarra Rondinel: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne, https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/870323-ana-gamarra-rondinel
A. Abigail Payne: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne, https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/140028-abigail-payne

Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series from Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne

Abstract: We analyze whether men and women respond differently to tuition variation for both university entry and STEM major choice, using a 30-year Australian individual-level administrative dataset. The Australian setting is unique: tuition fees are regulated, students can defer payment through income-contingent loans, and universities receive discipline-specific government subsidies. We find women consistently enrolled at higher rates than men, on average 14 percentage points between 1991 and 2020, with the gap widening over the period from 10 to 16 percentage points. By contrast, men were more likely to register in STEM fields. This STEM gap has remained stable in traditional STEM disciplines, but the gap has narrowed since 2005 when including Health in the definition of STEM. We find that women respond more positively than men to tuition increases in terms of overall enrollment. Effects on STEM participation, however, are less clear and vary across time. The STEM choice patterns suggest systematic gender differences in incentives and behavior, reflecting factors such as men’s stronger engagement with higher-paying non-university jobs, higher expected returns to traditional STEM fields for men, narrower earnings dispersion for women across fields, and gender differences in cost sensitivity and risk aversion. Our findings highlight how tuition policy interacts with gender-specific incentives to shape both university enrollment and major choices.

Keywords: Post-secondary Education; University Enrollment; Gender; Tuition; STEM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I22 I23 I28 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41pp
Date: 2025-09
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