tuition costs

Publication

Stange and co-authors study cost differences across fields of study at colleges and universities

Apr 29, 2022

Determining the monetary value of an education often is calculated based on what students pay in tuition and fees compared to what they earn after graduation. But, Kevin Stange, Ford School associate professor of public policy, and four other...

Stange and co-authors study cost differences across fields of study at colleges and universities

News

Why the move to online instruction won’t reduce college costs

Jul 28, 2020 "Why the move to online instruction won’t reduce college costs" article

"As COVID-19 swept across the country in March, colleges shuttered and millions of students and instructors were propelled into a world of distance education." (read...

News

RNC’s new call for a return to a “competitive” student loan market won’t work, says Dynarski

Jul 21, 2016

In “The RNC wants to make student loans competitive again. They never were,” Susan Dynarski provides detailed context on one plank of the newly released Republican platform, which pushes to get the federal government out of the student loan...

Professor Susan Dynarski’s research confirms the basis for radical educational innovation

EPI Policy briefs

Applications for Financial Aid Lagging Among Low-Income Students

August 1, 2020

Sabrina Solanki, Kevin Stange, Orlando Sanchez Zavala, Catherine Brown

Applications for federal and state financial aid for college are a leading indicator of how many students will enroll in and complete a college degree. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Tuition Incentive Program (TIP), a...

EPI Working papers

Nudges, College Enrollment, and College Persistence: Evidence from a Statewide Experiment in Michigan

May 1, 2018

Joshua Hyman

I conduct a statewide experiment in Michigan with nearly 50,000 high-achieving high school seniors. Treated students are mailed a letter encouraging them to consider college and providing them with the web address of a college information website. I...

EPI Working papers

Differential Pricing in Undergraduate Education: Effects on Degree Production by Field

June 1, 2013

Kevin Stange

In the face of declining state support, many universities have introduced differential pricing by undergraduate program as an alternative to across-the-board tuition increases. This practice aligns price more closely with instructional costs and...

Two students walking on a college campus

EPI Working papers

Financial Aid Policy: Lessons from Research

May 1, 2013

Susan Dynarski, Judith Scott-Clayton

In the nearly fifty years since the adoption of the Higher Education Act of 1965, financial aid programs have grown in scale, expanded in scope, and multiplied in form. As a result, financial aid has become the norm among college enrollees. Aid now...

EPI Working papers

Student Aid Simplification: Looking Back and Looking Ahead

February 1, 2012

Susan Dynarski, Mark Wiederspan

Each year, fourteen million households seeking federal aid for college complete a detailed questionnaire about their finances, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). At 116 questions, the FAFSA is almost as long as IRS Form 1040 and...

EPI Working papers

Cheaper by the Dozen: Using Sibling Discounts at Catholic Schools to Estimate the Price Elasticity of Private School Attendance

October 1, 2009

Susan Dynarski, Jonathan Gruber, Danielle Li

The effect of vouchers on sorting between private and public schools depends upon the price elasticity of demand for private schooling. Estimating this elasticity is empirically challenging because prices and quantities are jointly determined in the...

Postsecondary preparation & success

Understanding Geographic Differences in Postsecondary Decision Making and Financial Aid Interventions

January 2021

Susan Dynarski, Elizabeth Burland, Jasmina Camo-Biogradlija, Stefanie DeLuca, Katherine Michelmore

This study gathers and analyzes data from qualitative interviews with high school students in Michigan. These interviews ask students to describe their college decision making process and to what extent financial aid programs or interventions were effective at influencing their postsecondary decisions. The information gathered through this project provides vital insight, directly from the student perspective, on how financial aid interventions work and who they work for. Moreover, this project sheds light on the link between postsecondary inequality and student decision-making. Finally, the...

A block M on the ground on University of Michigan's campus