IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausecr/v59y2026i2p145-156.html

Application Fees and Gender Disparities in STEM Higher Education

Author

Listed:
  • Evelyn Xinhui Cheng
  • Ming Jiang

Abstract

Research Question/Issue Do college application fees contribute to gender disparities in higher education, particularly at STEM‐focused institutions in decentralised admissions systems? Research Findings/Insights Using U.S. data from 2001–2020, we find that a 1% increase in application fees is associated with a 1.77 percentage‐point decline in the female share of applicants at STEM‐focused institutions, with larger effects at public universities. No comparable effect is observed at non‐STEM institutions. Additional analysis indicates that application fees primarily alter the composition of applicants rather than overall application volumes, with male applications responding more strongly than female applications. Practitioner/Policy Implications Although application fees are typically viewed as administratively neutral, our results suggest they can disproportionately deter women from applying to STEM‐focused institutions. In decentralised systems common across the Asia‐Pacific region, reviewing fee structures or introducing targeted fee waivers may help promote greater gender equity in STEM participation. Methods Used We use institution‐level panel data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and estimate fixed‐effects models exploiting within‐institution variation in application fees.

Suggested Citation

  • Evelyn Xinhui Cheng & Ming Jiang, 2026. "Application Fees and Gender Disparities in STEM Higher Education," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 59(2), pages 145-156, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:59:y:2026:i:2:p:145-156
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8462.70052
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8462.70052
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8462.70052?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:59:y:2026:i:2:p:145-156. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mimelau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.