Table 6

Marginal Effects from the Model with Variation in Colleges: Predicted Change in the Probability of Choosing College Attributes Conditional on Enrolling in College

VariablesAttributes of the College Attended*
Two-YearFour-YearlFour-Year2Four-Year3Four-Year4Four-Year5HBCU
Male−0.0006−0.0001−0.0007−0.0015−0.0008−0.0007  0.0054
Black−0.0218−0.0014−0.0078  0.0348  0.0558  0.0904  0.1460
Black*Male−0.0028−0.0004−0.0069−0.0245−0.0174−0.0162−0.0063
Hispanic  0.0000  0.0004  0.0087  0.0449  0.0401  0.0478−0.0123
Asian−0.0065−0.0001  0.0045  0.0449  0.0462  0.0586  0.0329
SAT (100-point increase)−0.0019  0.0001  0.0046  0.0305  0.0283  0.0303  0.0019
Dad’s education
    High school graduate  0.0017  0.0004  0.0064  0.0258  0.0195  0.0186  0.0029
    College graduate  0.0930  0.0061  0.0686  0.1560  0.0784  0.0554  0.0111
Black*Dad’s education
    High school graduate  0.0010  0.0002  0.0031  0.0121  0.0094  0.0096−0.0026
    College graduate−0.0008−0.0001−0.0016−0.0055−0.0040−0.0038  0.0027
Mom’s education
    High school graduate  0.0019  0.0003  0.0054  0.0205  0.0152  0.0145−0.0037
    College graduate−0.0015  0.0001  0.0037  0.0234  0.0215  0.0240  0.0156
Black*Mom’s education
    High school graduate−0.0054−0.0007−0.0109−0.0355−0.0242−0.0216  0.0022
    College graduate−0.0008−0.0001−0.0022−0.0080−0.0058−0.0056−0.0001
Rural−0.0024−0.0003−0.0060−0.0216−0.0156−0.0148  0.0016
Rural*Black−0.0007−0.0001−0.0017−0.0063−0.0046−0.0044  0.0017

  • ↵* The college attended falls into one of seven mutually exclusive categories: (1) Two –year: nonvocational community colleges; (2) Four-Year1: special four-year institutions; (3) Four-Year2: non/less selective four-year colleges; (4) Four-Year3: somewhat selective four-year colleges;(5) Four-Year4: very selective four-year colleges; (6) Four-Year5: most selective four-year colleges; (7) HBCU: historically black colleges or universities regardless of institutional selectivity.

  • Note: Marginal effects represent the change in the conditional probability associated with a discrete change (0 to 1) in each of the binary variables listed in column one, with the exception of SAT score where we present the effect of a 100-point increase. Bolded effects are statistically significant at the 10 percent level or better.

  • Source: Authors’ calculations using NLS-72.