ERIC Number: EJ1114452
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 35
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1557-3060
EISSN: N/A
A New Measure of College Quality to Study the Effects of College Sector and Peers on Degree Attainment
Smith, Jonathan; Stange, Kevin
Education Finance and Policy, v11 n4 p369-403 Fall 2016
Students starting at a two-year college are much less likely to graduate than similar students who start at a four-year college, but the sources of this attainment gap are largely unexplained. This paper investigates the attainment consequences of sector choice and peer quality among recent high school graduates. Using data on all Preliminary SAT (PSAT) test-takers between 2004 and 2006, we develop a novel measure of peer ability for most two-year and four-year colleges in the United States--the average PSAT of enrolled students. We document substantial variation in this measure of peer quality across two-year colleges and nontrivial overlap between the two-year and four-year sectors. We find that half the gap in bachelor's degree attainment rates across sectors is explained by differences in peers, leaving room for structural barriers to transferring between institutions to also play an important role.
Descriptors: Educational Quality, Educational Attainment, Bachelors Degrees, Barriers, College Transfer Students, Two Year Colleges, Peer Groups, Aptitude Tests, High Schools, Achievement Gap, Role, High School Graduates, Two Year College Students, College Students, Comparative Analysis
MIT Press. 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. Tel: 617-253-2889; Fax: 617-253-1709; e-mail: journals-rights@mit.edu; Web site: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/edfp
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges; High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A