This is a dissertation in three essays. The first essay traces changes over time in three factors that drive students' sensitivity to changes in tuition prices and presents an argument that these factors have changed differently for access to higher education and choice among alternative institutions. The essay explores the application of a pricing bubble framework to higher education in an environment in which access has grown less price-sensitive but choice among institutions has grown more price-sensitive. The second essay outlines the development and estimation of a nested logistic regression model of demand for higher education that allows for variation in students' preferences for institutional characteristics, then illustrates this variation and demonstrates its importance in predicting students' enrollment responses to changes in tuition prices and other institutional characteristics. The third essay relates students' enrollment choices to later outcomes including success in degree completion and initial wages in the labor market, specifically through the lens of the apparent quality of the match between institutional characteristics and students' academic qualifications. The essay illustrates several measurement choices and research design elements that should receive attention from researchers and finds weak evidence of importance of undermatching and overmatching for later outcomes. A comprehensive conclusion integrates findings across the three essays and outlines implications for research and practice. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]