The Full Extent of Student-College Academic Undermatch
01 Feb 2013-Economics of Education Review (Elsevier. 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32887-4800. Tel: 877-839-7126; Tel: 407-345-4020; Fax: 407-363-1354; e-mail: usjcs@elsevier.com; Web site: http://www.elsevier.com)-Vol. 32, pp 247-261
TL;DR: In this article, the authors quantified the extent of student-college "academic undermatch", which occurs when a student's academic credentials permit them access to a college or university that is more selective than the postsecondary alternative they actually choose.
About: This article is published in Economics of Education Review.The article was published on 2013-02-01. It has received 250 citations till now.
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01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the impact of two applications of behavioral principles to mitigate summer "melt," the phenomenon that college-intending high school graduates fail to matriculate in college anywhere in the year following high school.
Abstract: Several recent low-cost interventions demonstrate that simplifying information about college and financial aid and helping students access professional assistance can generate substantial improvements in students’ postsecondary outcomes. We build on this growing literature by investigating the impact of two applications of behavioral principles to mitigate summer “melt,” the phenomenon that college-intending high school graduates fail to matriculate in college anywhere in the year following high school. One intervention utilized an automated and personalized text messaging campaign to remind college-intending students of required pre-matriculation tasks and to connect them to counselor-based support. Another employed near-aged peer mentors to provide summer outreach and support. The interventions substantially increased college enrollment among students who had less academic-year access to quality college counseling or information. Both strategies are cost–effective approaches to increase college entry among populations traditionally underrepresented in higher education and, more broadly, highlight the potential for low-cost behavioral nudges and interventions to achieve meaningful improvements in students’ educational outcomes.
259 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the impact of two applications of behavioral principles to mitigate summer "melt," the phenomenon that college-intending high school graduates fail to matriculate in college anywhere in the year following high school.
Abstract: Several recent low-cost interventions demonstrate that simplifying information about college and financial aid and helping students access professional assistance can generate substantial improvements in students’ postsecondary outcomes. We build on this growing literature by investigating the impact of two applications of behavioral principles to mitigate summer “melt,” the phenomenon that college-intending high school graduates fail to matriculate in college anywhere in the year following high school. One intervention utilized an automated and personalized text messaging campaign to remind college-intending students of required pre-matriculation tasks and to connect them to counselor-based support. Another employed near-aged peer mentors to provide summer outreach and support. The interventions substantially increased college enrollment among students who had less academic-year access to quality college counseling or information. Both strategies are cost–effective approaches to increase college entry among populations traditionally underrepresented in higher education and, more broadly, highlight the potential for low-cost behavioral nudges and interventions to achieve meaningful improvements in students’ educational outcomes.
255 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the barriers that students face during the transition to college and review the evidence on potential policy solutions, focusing primarily on research that examines causal relationships using experimental or quasi-experimental methods.
167 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined how students of varying abilities sort (and are sorted) into colleges of varying qualities, finding substantial amounts of both academic undermatch (high-ability students at low-quality colleges) and academic overmatch (low-ability student at high-quality ones).
Abstract: We examine how students of varying abilities sort (and are sorted) into colleges of varying qualities. Our data indicate substantial amounts of both academic undermatch (high-ability students at low-quality colleges) and academic overmatch (low-ability students at high-quality colleges). Student application and enrollment decisions, rather than college admission decisions, drive most deviations from academic assortative matching. Financial constraints, information, and the public college options facing students all affect this sorting, but mainly via college quality rather than the match between ability and quality. More informed students attend higher-quality colleges, even when doing so involves overmatching.
132 citations
Cites background or result from "The Full Extent of Student-College ..."
...(2008), Bowen, Chingos, and McPherson (2009), and Smith et al. (2013), that consider students well matched at the best colleges to which they are likely to be admitted and undermatched at all lower-quality colleges....
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...(2008), Bowen, Chingos, and McPherson (2009), and Smith et al. (2013), that consider students well matched at the best colleges to which they are likely to be admitted and undermatched at all lower-quality colleges. For example, applyingRoderick et al.’s (2008)definitionof studentswellmatched tocolleges in the top tier (mostorhighlycompetitive) in theBarron’s rankings to national data implies nearly twice as many matched students as available slots at those colleges....
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...2 Smith et al. (2013) do find changes in the extent of mismatch across cohorts using their measure of mismatch applied to different data sets....
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...This is not the case with the other measures in the literature, such as Roderick et al. (2008), Bowen, Chingos, and McPherson (2009), and Smith et al. (2013), that consider students well matched at the best colleges to which they are likely to be admitted and undermatched at all lower-quality…...
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...…andNLSY97 cohorts.2 In much of the following analysis, we categorize students as overmatched or undermatched for their college if their percentile 2 Smith et al. (2013) do find changes in the extent of mismatch across cohorts using their measure of mismatch applied to different data…...
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References
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a comprehensive survey of the economics of education from an international perspective, which includes new chapters on educational costs and benefits, teacher's salaries and educational finance.
Abstract: The main aim of the book is to present a comprehensive survey of the economics of education from an international perspective. This revised volume includes new chapters on educational costs and benefits, teacher's salaries and educational finance.
2,421 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions by William G. Bowen and Derek Bok as discussed by the authors is a seminal work on affirmative action in higher education.
Abstract: The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions By William G. Bowen and Derek Bok. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999. Pp. xxxvi, 472. $24.95. The Shape of the River is a provocative, genuinely fascinating book. Doctors Bowen and Bok, past presidents of Princeton and Harvard, respectively, have overseen the collection and analysis of massive time-series databases on the lifetime achievements of tens of thousands of college students, and they have produced a landmark work. That the book has some rather pronounced shortcomings is not a serious deficiency because the authors have, after all, tackled some very difficult empirical problems. Knowledgeable econometricians will certainly note that the strong conclusions offered by Bowen and Bok sometimes outrun what their analyses are capable of supporting. Yet the straightforward econometric models that make up the core of the book's analytical content are creative and the outcomes are thought-provoking. This volume moves forward our understanding of the current debate about the wisdom of race-sensitive college admissions, and it will stand as a most important and influential study of affirmative action generally in the forseeable future. Amid all of the facts and figures, one conclusion stands out: The nation's most selective colleges and universities have succeeded both in increasing substantially their enrollment of minority students in recent decades and in educating sizable numbers who have already gone on to achieve considerable success (however measured). Rest assured that numerous alternative measures of success were explored. In light of all the answers provided in the Bowen-Bok study, it is useful to ask oneself repeatedly, while reading this volume, what the questions are? The authors seek to measure the consequences of race-sensitive admissions policies that the nation's most selective schools have pursued now for 30-plus years. No matter how many alums one chooses to survey, one is still left with a well-known phenomenon called selection bias. Much of this book is devoted to reporting the results of a statistical study of 1951, 1976, and 1989 matriculants at 28 highly selective colleges and universities. Some 45,000 of them responded to the survey, but I would really like to know what would have happened to those respondents, particularly the minority students, if affirmative action had never been initiated. A random assignment experiment would have been nice. Harvard, for example, could have selected 600 minority applicants for inclusion in its class of 1976, using its prevailing race-sensitive admissions policies. …
1,508 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1983
TL;DR: The most crucial choice a high school graduate makes is whether to attend college or to go to work as discussed by the authors, and the most sophisticated study of the complexities behind that decision can be found in the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972.
Abstract: The most crucial choice a high school graduate makes is whether to attend college or to go to work. Here is the most sophisticated study of the complexities behind that decision. Based on a unique data set of nearly 23,000 seniors from more than 1,300 high schools who were tracked over several years, the book treats the following questions in detail: Who goes to college? Does low family income prevent some young people from enrolling, or does scholarship aid offset financial need? How important are scholastic aptitude scores, high school class rank, race, and socioeconomic background in determining college applications and admissions? Do test scores predict success in higher education? Using the data from the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972, the authors present a set of interrelated analyses of student and institutional behavior, each focused on a particular aspect of the process of choosing and being chosen by a college. Among their interesting findings: most high school graduates would be admitted to some four-year college of average quality, were they to apply; applicants do not necessarily prefer the highest-quality school; high school class rank and SAT scores are equally important in college admissions; federal scholarship aid has had only a small effect on enrollments at four-year colleges but a much stronger effect on attendance at two-year colleges; the attention paid to SAT scores in admissions is commensurate with the power of the scores in predicting persistence to a degree. This clearly written book is an important source of information on a perpetually interesting topic.
941 citations