Willingness to Pay and Preference for Private Institutions

This study focuses on the correlates of student preference for private institutions over public institutions in their senior year in high school, with a particular focus on the effects of students' subjective responses to tuition costs and to financial aid availability. The data for this study were drawn from a longitudinal study of postsecondary educational choice of high school students in the state of Indiana. The results indicate that in addition to student and family background and student academic characteristics, students' subjective responses to tuition costs and to financial aid availability have a substantial linkage with student preference for private or public institutions. This study suggests that family and ascribed characteristics alone do not explain student preference for the type of postsecondary institution. Students' subjective responses to tuition costs and to financial aid availability are also directly related to student preference for a certain type of postsecondary institution, independent of student family background and academic characteristics. This suggests that the willingness to pay, not only the ability to pay, plays a direct role in student college choice decisions. The implications for policy making are discussed.

[1]  M. Mumper.  Removing College Price Barriers: What Government Has Done and Why It Hasn't Worked. SUNY Series, Social Context of Education. , 1995 .

[2]  David A. Wise,et al.  College Choice In America , 1983 .

[3]  Michael B. Paulsen,et al.  The nexus between college choice and persistence , 1996 .

[4]  Ernest T. Pascarella,et al.  How college affects students : findings and insights from twenty years of research , 1992 .

[5]  Michael L. Tierney.  The Impact of Financial Aid on Student Demand for Public/Private Higher Education. , 1980 .

[6]  K. Gallagher,et al.  Studying Student College Choice: A Three-Phase Model and the Implications for Policymakers. , 1987 .

[7]  Trond Petersen,et al.  A Comment on Presenting Results from Logit and Probit Models , 1985 .

[8]  J. Coleman,et al.  High school achievement : public, Catholic, and private schools compared , 1982 .

[9]  Michael L. Tierney.  Student Matriculation Decisions and Financial Aid , 2017 .

[10]  E. Savoca.  Another Look at the Demand for Higher Education: Measuring the Price Sensitivity of the Decision to Apply to College. , 1990 .

[11]  W. Sewell,et al.  The Educational and Early Occupational Status Attainment Process: Replication and Revision , 1970 .

[12]  M. Mcpherson,et al.  Keeping College Affordable: Government and Educational Opportunity , 1992 .

[13]  K. Arrow.  Higher education as a filter , 1973 .

[14]  Tuition and enrollment yield at selective liberal arts colleges , 1993 .

[15]  Charles F. Manski,et al.  Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers , 2022 .

[16]  Shouping Hu,et al.  Predicting Student Sensitivity to Tuition and Financial Aid , 1999, Journal of Student Financial Aid.

[17]  E. John,et al.  An Alternative to Net Price: Assessing the Influence of Prices and Subsidies on Within-Year Persistence. , 1995 .

[18]  The Economic Value of Higher Education , 1989 .

[19]  James C. Hearn.  Attendance at higher-cost colleges: Ascribed, socioeconomic, and academic influences on student enrollment patterns , 1988 .

[20]  L. Krishnamurthi,et al.  An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship Between Brand Loyalty and Consumer Price Elasticity , 1991 .

[21]  Donald E. Heller.  Student Price Response in Higher Education: An Update to Leslie and Brinkman , 1997 .

[22]  J. C. Smart,et al.  Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research , 2001, Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research.

[23]  J. Bishop.  The effect of public policies on the demand for higher education. , 1977, The Journal of human resources.

[24]  S. L. Hanson,et al.  Lost talent : unrealized educational aspirations and expectations among U.S. youths , 1994 .

[25]  Donald L. Basch.  Private Colleges' Pricing Experience in the Early 1990s: The Impact of Rapidly Increasing College-Funded Grants , 1997 .

[26]  Estelle James,et al.  College Quality and Future Earnings: Where Should You Send Your Child to College? , 1989 .

[27]  James C. Hearn.  Academic and Nonacademic Influences on the College Destinations of 1980 High School Graduates. , 1991 .

[28]  Edward P. St. John,et al.  The Financial Nexus Between College Choice and Persistence , 1997 .

[29]  Gordon C. Winston,et al.  Paying the piper : productivity, incentives, and financing in U.S. higher education , 1994 .

[30]  W. Weiler.  Factors influencing the matriculation choices of high ability students , 1996 .

[31]  M. McPherson,et al.  The Student Aid Game: Meeting Need and Rewarding Talent in American Higher Education , 1997 .

[32]  James C. Hearn,et al.  Enrollment Effects of Alternative Postsecondary Pricing Policies. , 1985 .

[33]  D. Karen.  The Politics of Class, Race, and Gender: Access to Higher Education in the United States, 1960-1986 , 1991, American Journal of Education.

[34]  Patricia J. Gumport.  In Search of Strategic Perspective: A Tool for Mapping the Market in Postsecondary Education , 1997 .

[35]  Frances K. Stage,et al.  Family and High School Experience Influences on the Postsecondary Educational Plans of Ninth-Grade Students , 1992 .