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The Role Of Distance In College Undermatching

Author

Listed:
  • Lois Miller

    (DePauw University)

  • Humberto Barreto

    (Department of Economics and Management, DePauw University)

Abstract

This paper explores factors explaining why so many high-achieving, low-income students apply to and enroll at universities with relatively low academic standards, despite generous financial aid packages and evidence that these students would be successful at colleges that are more selective. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk was used to gather data, and the entire file is freely available at academic.depauw.edu/hbarreto_web/working. A probit analysis confirms an established result that low-income students are more likely to undermatch. The key result is that as the distance between a student’s home and the university they attend increases, the probability that the student will undermatch decreases. At a distance of 500 miles between a student’s home and college, the difference in the probability of undermatching between low-income students and high-income students is 25.5 percentage points. At 3,000 miles, the gap is only 8.7 percentage points.

Suggested Citation

  • Lois Miller & Humberto Barreto, 2017. "The Role Of Distance In College Undermatching," Working Papers 2017-01, DePauw University, School of Business and Leadership and Department of Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:dew:wpaper:2017-01
    as

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    File URL: https://www.depauw.edu/site/learn/dew/wpaper/workingpapers/DePauw2017-01-Miller-Barreto-CollegeUndermatching.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lincove, Jane Arnold & Cortes, Kalena E., 2016. "Match or Mismatch? Automatic Admissions and College Preferences of Low- and High-Income Students," IZA Discussion Papers 10150, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Katherine Michelmore & Susan Dynarski, 2016. "The Gap within the Gap: Using Longitudinal Data to Understand Income Differences in Student Achievement," NBER Working Papers 22474, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Gordon C. Winston & Catharine B. Hill, 2005. "Access to the Most Selective Private Colleges by High-Ability, Low-Income Students: Are They Out There?," Williams Project on the Economics of Higher Education DP-69, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    4. Caroline Hoxby & Christopher Avery, 2013. "The Missing "One-Offs": The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low-Income Students," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 44(1 (Spring), pages 1-65.
    5. Jane Arnold Lincove & Kalena E. Cortes, 2016. "Match or Mismatch? Automatic Admissions and College Preferences of Low- and High-Income Students," NBER Working Papers 22559, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    college application; Mechanical Turk; matching; sorting; education; inequality; social capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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