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American Economic Review Vol. 106 No. 5 2016

Can Admissions Percent Plans Lead to Better Collegiate Fit for Minority Students?

Kalena E. Cortes1; Jane Arnold Lincove2

1 The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, 4220 TAMU, 1049 Allen Building, College Station, TX 77843, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), and National Bureau of Economic Research (e-mail: ) · 2 Department of Economics and Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, Tulane University, 1555 Poydras Street #701, New Orleans, LA 70112 (e-mail: )

Abstract

Why do so many students mismatch when choosing a college? A plausible hypothesis is a lack of information about the likelihood of admission. This study contributes to the literature on mismatch by testing whether public university automatic admissions policies mitigate academic undermatch and promote academic overmatch by providing some students with admissions certainty. Focusing on the interaction of admissions certainty and race/ethnicity, our results support the hypothesis that a priori admissions information can vastly improve minority access to college quality by encouraging eligible students to apply to, and more importantly, enroll in more challenging institutions.

DOI
10.1257/aer.p20161115
Volume
106
Issue
5
Pages
348-354
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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