Impact of state tuition guarantee policy on enrollment in public universities
International Journal of Comparative Education and Development
ISSN: 2396-7404
Article publication date: 17 October 2024
Issue publication date: 19 November 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study estimates the effect of the Truth-in-Tuition policy on the enrollment of first-year students, minority students and all students (total enrollment) in Illinois universities.
Design/methodology/approach
Econometric models yield robust estimates using state- and time-fixed effects. This research uses the nonparametric Difference-in-Difference (DID) method. Variation in the starting of the Truth-in-Tuition policy across the Midwestern states is used as a natural experiment.
Findings
Results demonstrate that the Truth-in-Tuition policy helped increase freshman enrollment but did not significantly impact minority enrollment. This policy, however, shows a much larger drop in total enrollment in Illinois universities.
Originality/value
A comparison between regionally competing institutions under different policy regimes was not analyzed earlier.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Elaine Jurkowski, Scott Gilbert, Wanki Moon, and Ira Altman for providing comments and suggestions, and Elizabeth Santana for editing the manuscript. Brianna Thornton and Bridget Liggett also deserve thanks for assisting with formatting the manuscript and general assistance.
Citation
Coulibaly, I. and Asirvatham, J. (2024), "Impact of state tuition guarantee policy on enrollment in public universities", International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 376-391. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCED-02-2024-0009
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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