"The College Admissions Problem: Effects of Income and Ability of Post" by Martha Whamond

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Dr. M. Saif Mehkari

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of students’ pre-college income on student outcomes and college admissions decisions. Under the assumption that colleges maximize utility by maximizing student outcomes, a two-stage regression model for student outcomes is building using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the 1997 National Youth Longitudinal Survey (NLSY97). The first stage estimates a model for college quality using the IPEDS dataset. The college quality estimates are then used as independent variables in the second stage. The second stage estimates student outcomes as a function of pre- college income, ability, college quality, and demographic characteristics using the NLSY97 dataset. The results suggest that pre-college income has a positive and significant effect on post- college income but does not have a significant effect on college GPA. Conversely, the results suggest that student ability has a positive effect on college GPA but does not have a significant effect on post-college income. Assuming colleges consider post-college income potential as a factor in admissions decisions, the results indicate that a higher pre-college income would make a student more attractive to a college because the student is more likely to have a positive outcome.

Included in

Economics Commons

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