FINANCIAL AID AND COLLEGE PRICING

"College Tuition Pricing and Federal Financial Aid: Is there a Connection?" (2006) Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.  Hearing: "Report Card on Tax Exemptions and Incentives for Higher Education: Pass, Fail, or Need Improvement?" (December 5).

"The Institutional Impact Of Financial Aid Policy: The Case Of The Georgia Hope Scholarship" (2004) Journal of Human Resources.
This paper examines the effects of financial aid policies on the behavior of postsecondary institutions. Using the introduction of the Georgia HOPE Scholarship as a natural experiment, it investigates the impact of the policy on college pricing, institution aid, expenditures, and state appropriations. The results suggest that four-year colleges in Georgia, particularly private institutions, did respond by increasing student charges. In the most extreme case, colleges recouped approximately 30 percent of the scholarship award. As a result, the institutional responses reduced the intended benefit of the scholarship and increased the cost of college for non-recipients.

"The Connection between Government Aid and College Pricing" (2003) Journal of Student Financial Aid.
While most of the literature on the impact of financial aid policy focuses on the reactions of individuals, researchers have long theorized that the policies may also impact the behavior of postsecondary institutions. This paper sheds light on this issue by utilizing the Georgia HOPE Scholarship as a unique natural experiment. The effects on tuition pricing, room and board charges, and institutional financial aid awards are investigated by comparing colleges within Georgia to institutions outside of the state. The results suggest that four-year colleges in Georgia did increase student charges by raising price and reducing institutional aid. These actions may have reduced the intended benefit of the HOPE Scholarship for recipients while also inadvertently increasing prices for the over 100,000 non-recipients attending Georgia colleges. However, the response is not large enough to suggest that increases in aid explain the substantial growth in tuition prices during the past several decades.

"Do State Financial Aid Programs Cause Colleges to Raise Prices?" (2002) Who Should We Help? Donald Heller and Patricia Marin, eds. Cambridge: Harvard Civil Rights Project. Available at: http://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/meritaid/fullreport04.php

OTHER COLLEGE INSTITUTIONAL BEHAVIOR

"To What degree are Preferences used in College Admissions? Evidence from Admissions Committees." Work in progress.

"Attracting the Best: The Use of Honors Programs and Colleges to Compete for Students" (March 2002).
This paper examines the development, characteristics, and role of honors programs and colleges at American institutions of higher education. These programs attempt to attract high-achieving students by offering enhanced resources and may be the result of increased competition between schools and concerns about "brain drain." However, little is known about the development or role of honors programs. This study addresses this gap in the literature by analyzing an empirical data set compiled from several sources. I examine three questions: (i) what types of colleges have established honors programs; (ii) how are the honors programs structured; and (iii) how has the development of honors colleges changed over time? This work adds to the literature on the objectives and behavior of colleges and universities. Moreover, the study gives further perspective on the current shift from need-based to merit-based aid in all forms.