RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 What's Happened to the Price of College?
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 723
OP 745
DO 10.3368/jhr.XXXIX.3.723
VO XXXIX
IS 3
A1 Schwartz, Amy Ellen
A1 Scafidi, Benjamin
YR 2004
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/XXXIX/3/723.abstract
AB In this paper we estimate hedonic models of the (consumer) price of college to construct quality-adjusted net price indexes for U.S. four-year colleges, where the net price of college is defined as tuition and fees minus financial aid. For academic years 1990–91 to 1994–95, we find adjusting for financial aid leads to a 22 percent decline in the estimated price index for all four–year colleges, while quality adjusting the results leads to a further, albeit smaller, decline. Nevertheless, public comprehensive colleges, perhaps an important gateway to college for students from low-income backgrounds, experienced the largest net price increases.