IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/atlecj/v52y2024i4d10.1007_s11293-024-09816-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

College Applications and Enrollment after Operation Varsity Blues

Author

Listed:
  • Anushka Reddy

    (Babson College)

  • Eric W. Chan

    (Babson College)

Abstract

Operations Varsity Blues, a high-profile undergraduate admissions scandal exposed in March 2019, involved some of the most elite colleges in the United States. The event charged 33 parents with bribing athletic departments and faking test scores in an effort to obtain admission for their children. This paper analyzes the effects of this scandal on institution-level outcomes, including the number of applicants, enrollment demographics, and financial aid outcomes. Data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System for the years 2017–2021 were utilized, employing entropy balancing to construct a comparable control group, combined with difference-in-differences regressions. The resulting models estimate that the scandal reduced applications by 3% and enrollment of Black students by 0.3%. Furthermore, the number of low-income students who received Pell grants decreased by 100 students, or 0.3%. A limitation of the analysis is the occurrence of the coronavirus-19 pandemic, which coincided partially with the years used as outcomes. The results highlight the level of student sensitivity to public information and speak to how highly-publicized scandals can have a small, yet significant, impact on student decisions at elite colleges. Furthermore, the results imply that college applicants, especially low-income applicants, desire equitable admission systems in higher education institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Anushka Reddy & Eric W. Chan, 2024. "College Applications and Enrollment after Operation Varsity Blues," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 52(4), pages 153-170, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:52:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s11293-024-09816-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s11293-024-09816-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11293-024-09816-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11293-024-09816-w?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick Rooney & Jonathan Smith, 2019. "The Impact Of Highly Publicized Campus Scandals On College Outcomes," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 492-508, July.
    2. Hainmueller, Jens, 2012. "Entropy Balancing for Causal Effects: A Multivariate Reweighting Method to Produce Balanced Samples in Observational Studies," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 25-46, January.
    3. Alberto Abadie, 2005. "Semiparametric Difference-in-Differences Estimators," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 1-19.
    4. Michael Hurwitz & Jonathan Smith, 2018. "Student Responsiveness To Earnings Data In The College Scorecard," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 1220-1243, April.
    5. Kim, Matthew, 2010. "Early decision and financial aid competition among need-blind colleges and universities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(5-6), pages 410-420, June.
    6. Peter Leopold S. Bergman & Eric W. Chan & Adam Kapor, 2020. "Housing Search Frictions: Evidence from Detailed Search Data and a Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 8080, CESifo.
    7. Seth D. Zimmerman, 2019. "Elite Colleges and Upward Mobility to Top Jobs and Top Incomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(1), pages 1-47, January.
    8. Belman, Dale & Heywood, John S, 1991. "Sheepskin Effects in the Returns to Education: An Examination on Women and Minorities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(4), pages 720-724, November.
    9. Alberto Abadie & Alexis Diamond & Jens Hainmueller, 2015. "Comparative Politics and the Synthetic Control Method," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(2), pages 495-510, February.
    10. Alan B. Krueger & David Card, 2000. "Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(5), pages 1397-1420, December.
    11. Bound, John & Turner, Sarah, 2007. "Cohort crowding: How resources affect collegiate attainment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 877-899, June.
    12. 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.
    13. Caroline M. Hoxby & Sarah Turner, 2015. "What High-Achieving Low-Income Students Know about College," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 514-517, May.
    14. Alon, Sigal & Malamud, Ofer, 2014. "The impact of Israel's class-based affirmative action policy on admission and academic outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 123-139.
    15. Peter Bergman & Eric W. Chan, 2021. "Leveraging Parents through Low-Cost Technology: The Impact of High-Frequency Information on Student Achievement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(1), pages 125-158.
    16. Abadie, Alberto & Diamond, Alexis & Hainmueller, Jens, 2010. "Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 105(490), pages 493-505.
    17. Michael Luca & Jonathan Smith, 2013. "Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 58-77, March.
    18. Hurwitz, Michael, 2011. "The impact of legacy status on undergraduate admissions at elite colleges and universities," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 480-492, June.
    19. Peter Arcidiacono & Michael Lovenheim & Maria Zhu, 2015. "Affirmative Action in Undergraduate Education," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 487-518, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Masahiro Kato & Akari Ohda, 2023. "Asymptotically Unbiased Synthetic Control Methods by Density Matching," Papers 2307.11127, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2025.
    2. Nicolaj N. Mühlbach, 2020. "Tree-based Synthetic Control Methods: Consequences of moving the US Embassy," CREATES Research Papers 2020-04, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    3. Arne Henningsen & Guy Low & David Wuepper & Tobias Dalhaus & Hugo Storm & Dagim Belay & Stefan Hirsch, 2024. "Estimating Causal Effects with Observational Data: Guidelines for Agricultural and Applied Economists," IFRO Working Paper 2024/03, University of Copenhagen, Department of Food and Resource Economics.
    4. Goodman, Joshua & Hurwitz, Michael & Smith, Jonathan & Fox, Julia, 2015. "The relationship between siblings’ college choices: Evidence from one million SAT-taking families," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 75-85.
    5. Sabina Albrecht & David Smerdon, 2022. "The social capital effects of refugee resettlement on host communities," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 98(320), pages 80-112, March.
    6. Lisa J. Dettling & Sarena Goodman & Jonathan Smith, 2018. "Every Little Bit Counts: The Impact of High-Speed Internet on the Transition to College," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(2), pages 260-273, May.
    7. Caro, Juan Carlos & Gutierrez-Lythgoe, Antonio & Molina, Jose Alberto, 2025. "COVID-19 restrictions and workplace mobility: Synthetic control analysis using Google data," MPRA Paper 123747, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. M. A. Bautista & F. Gonz�lez & L. R. Mart�nez & P. Mu�oz & M. Prem, 2020. "Chile’s Missing Students: Dictatorship, Higher Education and Social Mobility," Documentos de Trabajo 18163, Universidad del Rosario.
    9. Safoura Moeeni, 2022. "The Intergenerational Effects of Economic Sanctions," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 36(2), pages 269-304.
    10. Matthias Bäuml & Jan Marcus & Thomas Siedler, 2023. "Health effects of a ban on late‐night alcohol sales," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 65-89, January.
    11. Sviták, Jan & Tichem, Jan & Haasbeek, Stefan, 2021. "Price effects of search advertising restrictions," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Alou Adessé Dama, 2021. "Exploring Tilly’s Theory : Violent Conflicts and Tax Revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa," CERDI Working papers hal-03401539, HAL.
    13. Christian Alemán-Pericón & Alexander Ludwig & Christopher Busch & Raül Santaeulà lia-Llopis, 2022. "A Stage-Based Identification of Policy Effects," Working Papers 1369, Barcelona School of Economics.
    14. Noémi Kreif & Richard Grieve & Dominik Hangartner & Alex James Turner & Silviya Nikolova & Matt Sutton, 2016. "Examination of the Synthetic Control Method for Evaluating Health Policies with Multiple Treated Units," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(12), pages 1514-1528, December.
    15. Taylor K. Odle & Jennifer A. Delaney, 2022. "You are Admitted! Early Evidence on Enrollment from Idaho’s Direct Admissions System," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(6), pages 899-932, September.
    16. Joshua S. Goodman & Michael Hurwitz & Christine Mulhern & Jonathan Smith, 2019. "O Brother, Where Start Thou? Sibling-Spillovers in College Enrollment," CESifo Working Paper Series 7974, CESifo.
    17. Hans-Bernd Schaefer & Rok Spruk, 2024. "Islamic Law, Western European Law and the Roots of Middle East's Long Divergence: a Comparative Empirical Investigation (800-1600)," Papers 2401.14435, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    18. Eli Ben‐Michael & Avi Feller & Jesse Rothstein, 2022. "Synthetic controls with staggered adoption," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 84(2), pages 351-381, April.
    19. Nicholas Illenberger & Dylan S. Small & Pamela A. Shaw, 2019. "Regression to the Mean's Impact on the Synthetic Control Method: Bias and Sensitivity Analysis," Papers 1909.04706, arXiv.org.
    20. Yixiao Sun & Haitian Xie & Yuhang Zhang, 2025. "Difference-in-Differences Meets Synthetic Control: Doubly Robust Identification and Estimation," Papers 2503.11375, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

    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:kap:atlecj:v:52:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s11293-024-09816-w. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.