The Impact of US News and World Report College Rankings on Admission Outcomes and Pricing Decisions at Selective Private Institutions
Abstract
Despite the widespread popularity of the U.S. News & World Report College rankings there has been no empirical analysis of the impact of these rankings on applications, admissions, and enrollment decisions, as well as on institutions' pricing policies. Our analyses indicate that a less favorable rank leads an institution to accept a greater percentage of its applicants, a smaller percentage of its admitted applicants matriculate, and the resulting entering class is of lower quality, as measured by its average SAT scores. While tuition levels are not responsive to less favorable rankings, institutions offer less visible price discounts in the form of slightly lower levels of expected self-help (loans and employment opportunities) and significantly more generous levels of grant aid. These decreases in net tuition are an attempt to attract additional students from their declining applicant pool.Download Info
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 7227.Length:
Date of creation: Jul 1999
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7227
Note: LS CH
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Keywords:Find related papers by JEL classification:
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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-1999-07-28 (All new papers)
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Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Horstschräer, Julia, 2011.
"University rankings in action? The importance of rankings and an excellence competition for university choice of high-ability students?,"
ZEW Discussion Papers
11-061, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
- Horstschräer, Julia, 2012. "University rankings in action? The importance of rankings and an excellence competition for university choice of high-ability students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1162-1176.
- Kato, Takao & Sparber, Chad, 2011.
"Quotas and Quality: The Effect of H-1B Visa Restrictions on the Pool of Prospective Undergraduate Students from Abroad,"
Working Papers
2011-02, Department of Economics, Colgate University.
- Takao Kato & Chad Sparber, 2013. "Quotas and Quality: The Effect of H-1B Visa Restrictions on the Pool of Prospective Undergraduate Students from Abroad," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(1), pages 109-126, March.
- Kato, Takao & Sparber, Chad, 2010. "Quotas and Quality: The Effect of H-1B Visa Restrictions on the Pool of Prospective Undergraduate Students from Abroad," IZA Discussion Papers 4951, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Takao Kato & Chad Sparber, 2010. "Quotas and Quality: The Effect of H-1B Visa Restrictions on the Pool of Prospective Undergraduate Students from Abroad," CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1010, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London.
- Christopher Avery & Mark Glickman & Caroline Hoxby & Andrew Metrick, 2004. "A Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities," NBER Working Papers 10803, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Ginger Zhe Jin & Alex Whalley, 2007. "The Power of Attention: Do Rankings Affect the Financial Resources of Public Colleges?," NBER Working Papers 12941, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Andrade, Eduardo de Carvalho, 2009. "Rankings em educação: tipos, problemas, informações e mudanças," Ibmec Working Papers wpe_198, Insper Working Paper, Insper Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa.
- Siegfried, John & Getz, Malcolm, 2006.
"Where do the children of professors attend college?,"
Economics of Education Review,
Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 201-210, April.
- John J. Siegfried & Malcolm Getz, 2003. "Where Do the Children Of Professors Attend College?," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0302, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
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