The Relationship of Institutional Tuition Discounts with Enrollment at Private, Not-for-Profit Institutions
Vol. 40, No. 3, 2010 p. 26
By Nathan E. Lassila
Empirical studies exploring the impact of student aid on postsecondary
enrollment often stop short of the specific examination of institutional tuition
discounting. This research uses separate empirical ordinary least squares (OLS)
regression models to examine three questions using public choice theory, positing
that enrollment decisions may be affected by many variables but will be driven
primarily by discounted cost. These questions are: Does a relationship exist
between institutional tuition discount and enrollment? Does institutional tuition
discount have a measurably different effect on enrollment of different racial or
ethnic groups? What is the relationship between institutional tuition discount and
enrollment over time? Results provide evidence of a positive relationship between
increasing institutional tuition discount and enrollment, and suggest tuition
discounting may be effective specifically in increasing minority enrollment.