College on the Cheap: Consequences of Community College Tuition Reductions

摘要

This paper examines the effects of community college tuition on col-lege enrollment. I exploit quasi-experimental variationfrom discounts for community college tuition in Texas that were expanded over time and across geography for identification. Community college enroll-ment in the first year after high school increased by 5.1 percentage points for each $1,000 decrease in tuition, which implies an elasticity of-0.29. Lower tuition also increased transfer from community col-leges to universities. Marginal community college enrollees induced to attend by reduced tuition have similar graduation rates as average community college enrollees.