The Effect of University Fees on Applications, Attendance and Course Choice

Evidence from a Natural Experiment in the UK

Bibliographic Data

ID9724310
AuthorsFilipa Sá (0000-0002-1648-7429, King's College London, IZA and CEPR, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume86
Issue343
Pages607-634
Publication date2019-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0427 • E-ISSN: 1468-0335
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ecca.12278
OpenAlexW2787832488
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited22

Over the past two decades, large changes have been introduced to the level of university fees in the UK, with significant variation across countries. This paper exploits this variation to examine the effect of fees on university applications, attendance and course choice. It finds that applications decrease in response to higher fees with an elasticity of demand of about −0.4. Attendance also decreases. The reduction in applications and attendance is larger for courses with lower salaries and employment rates after graduation, for non‐STEM subjects, and for less selective universities

Attendance · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Elasticity (physics) · Exploit · Graduation (instrument) · Labour economics · Natural experiment · Statistics · Variation (astronomy) · Computer Science · Engineering · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Higher Education Research Studies · Innovations in Educational Methods · Mathematics

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