College Choices

by Edited by Caroline M. Hoxby

• ISBN13: 9780226355351
• ISBN10: 0226355357
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-07-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Aspiring college students and their families have many options. A student can attend an in-state or an out-of-state school, a public or private college, a two-year community college program or a four-year university program. Students can attend full-time and have a bachelor of arts degree by the age of twenty-three or mix college and work, progressing toward a degree more slowly. To make matters more complicated, the array of financial aid available is more complex than ever. Students and their families must weigh federal grants, state merit scholarships, college tax credits, and college savings accounts, just to name a few. In College Choices, Caroline Hoxby and a distinguished group of economists show how students and their families really make college decisions--how they respond to financial aid options, how peer relationships figure in the decision-making process, and even whether they need mentoring to get through the admissions process. Students of all sorts are considered--from poor students, who may struggle with applications and whether to continue on to college, to high aptitude students who are offered "free rides" at elite schools. College Choices utilizes the best methods and latest data to analyze the college decision-making process, while explaining how changes in aid and admissions practices inform those decisions as well.

Author Biography

Caroline M. Hoxby is a professor of economics at Harvard University. She is also director of the Economics of Education Program for the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Hoover Institution. She is the editor of the recent NBER volume The Economics of School Choice.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(12)
Caroline M. Hoxby
Going to College and Finishing College: Explaining Different Educational Outcomes	13	(50)
Sarah E. Turner
Comment: Christopher Taber
The New Merit Aid	63	(38)
Susan Dynarski
Comment: Charles Clotfelter
The Impact of Federal Tax Credits for Higher Education Expenses	101	(68)
Bridget Terry Long
Comment: Michael McPherson
Education Savings Incentives and Household Saving: Evidence from the 2000 TIAA-CREF Survey of Participant Finances	169	(38)
Jennifer Ma
Comment: Harvey S. Rosen
How Financial Aid Affects Persistence	207	(32)
Eric Bettinger
Comment: Jonathan Guryan
Do and Should Financial Aid Packages Affect Students' College Choices?	239	(64)
Christopher Avery
Caroline M. Hoxby
Comment: Michael Rothschild
Resident and Nonresident Tuition and Enrollment at Flagship State Universities	303	(52)
Michael J. Rizzo
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Comment: Michelle J. White
Student Perceptions of College Opportunities: The Boston COACH Program	355	(40)
Christopher Avery
Thomas J. Kane
Comment: Bruce Sacerdote
Peer Effects in Higher Education	395	(30)
Gordon C. Winston
David J. Zimmerman
Comment: Thomas S. Dee
Contributors	425	(2)
Author Index	427	(4)
Subject Index	431