This article investigates determinants of the number of four-year colleges to which students apply and how the number of applications affects their probabilities of enrollment. To estimate the effect on enrollment, I use a novel instrument: the adoption rate of the Common Application near a...

This descriptive paper documents how segregation between blacks and whites across colleges in the United States has evolved since the 1960s. It also explores potential channels through which changes are occurring, and it uses recent data to study the issue of segregation within colleges. The...

How can colleges find successful applicants? Criteria such as GPA, interviews, essays, and tests provide information about candidates, but which work and why? We shed light on these questions using unique data on the universe of objective and subjective rankings of all college applicants in...

The COVID-19 pandemic has made a major impact on higher education and affected students’ livelihoods and attainment of education. To help students during these challenging times the Federal CARES Act was established to provide financial relief and support students in their time of need,...

This policy brief provides a conceptual and contextual analysis of tertiary education in Nigeria. It outlines the vital role of tertiary institutions in the development of Nigeria's economy, the challenges that plague tertiary institutions in the country and recommendations on how to move to...

The paper explores need, challenges of privatization of higher education in India. The last two decades had witnessed unprecedented growth in institutes of higher education primarily due to private sector participation. The private sector has contributed significantly in increasing the gross...

This paper shows that the local availability of universities acted as a catalyst in the catch-up of women in higher education that has been documented for developed countries in the latter half of the 20th century. It uses the foundation of new universities in the 1960s and 1970s in West German...

How can colleges find successful applicants? Criteria such as GPA, interviews, essays, and tests provide information about candidates, but which work and why? We shed light on these questions using unique data on the universe of objective and subjective rankings of all college applicants in...

How can colleges find successful applicants? Criteria such as GPA, interviews, essays, and tests provide information about candidates, but which work and why? We shed light on these questions using unique data on the universe of objective and subjective rankings of all college applicants in...

This paper examines systematic inequalities in the match between students and the university degree they apply to, and enroll in. Using linked administrative data on the population of Portuguese applicants we create a transparent and continuous measure of student-to-degree match employing...