ERIC Number: ED672358
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Oct
Pages: 51
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Distance to Opportunity: Higher Education Deserts and College Enrollment Choices. EdWorkingPaper No. 24-1065
Riley Acton; Kalena E. Cortes; Camila Morales
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
We study how geographic access to public postsecondary institutions is associated with students' college enrollment decisions across race and socioeconomic status. Leveraging rich administrative data, we first document substantial differences in students' local college options, with White, Hispanic, and rural students having, on average, many fewer nearby options than their Black, Asian, suburban, and urban peers. We then show that students are sensitive to the distance they must travel to access public colleges and universities, but there are heterogeneous effects across students. In particular, we find that White and non-economically disadvantaged students respond to living far from public two-year colleges primarily by enrolling in four-year colleges, whereas Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students respond primarily by forgoing college enrollment altogether. Lastly, in a series of decomposition and simulation exercises to inform public policy efforts to increase college enrollment, especially among underrepresented minorities and low-income students, we find that differences in students' "sensitivity" to distance, rather than differences in "distance" to the nearest college, primarily contribute to observed four-year college enrollment gaps across racial and ethnic groups.
Descriptors: College Enrollment, Proximity, School Location, Public Colleges, Rural Urban Differences, Racial Differences, Socioeconomic Status, Social Differences, Minority Group Students, Low Income Students, Community Colleges, Access to Education
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Brown University Box 1985, Providence, RI 02912. Tel: 401-863-7990; Fax: 401-863-1290; e-mail: annenberg@brown.edu; Web site: https://annenberg.brown.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Identifiers - Location: Texas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A