Date of Award
2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Economics
First Advisor
Dr. KimMarie McGoldrick
Abstract
American higher education today is defined by rising tuition and decreasing enrollment. As higher education institutions prepare for a looming enrollment crisis, tuition resets – when colleges or universities decrease their sticker price of tuition – are becoming a newly popular strategy. Although much research has been done regarding the economics of higher education and what influences tuition, no quantitative research study has been done on tuition resets. This research study contributes to the existing literature by quantitatively testing the effect of a tuition reset on an institution’s financial health, as measured by net tuition revenue from students and undergraduate student enrollment. Using a longitudinal dataset from the Delta Cost Project, fixed effects regression and random effects regressions were run to determine the impact of tuition resets. Although the results lacked statistical significance, the negative coefficient on the tuition reset dummy variable in both sets of regressions suggests that implementing a tuition reset lowers an institution’s net tuition revenue and enrollment. In the future after more resets have been implemented by institutions, further research studies could analyze the longer-term implications of a tuition reset.
Recommended Citation
Mendelson, Claire, "Tuition Resets: An Economic Analysis" (2020). Honors Theses. 1497.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/1497