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Centralized college admissions and student composition

Machado, Cecilia; Szerman, Christiane; (2021) Centralized college admissions and student composition. Economics of Education Review , 85 , Article 102184. 10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102184. Green open access

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Abstract

Education markets are increasingly switching to centralized admission systems. However, empirical evidence of the effects of these transitions is scarce. We examine the consequences of introducing centralized admissions in the higher education market in Brazil. Using detailed administrative data, we exploit the staggered adoption of a centralized clearinghouse across institutions to investigate the impacts on student composition. Consistent with lower application frictions and higher competition, we find that centralization is associated with a decline in the share of female students and an increase in the average age of students. We also document that institutions under the centralized assignment attract students from other locations and with higher test scores. We present suggestive evidence that centralization increases stratification of institutions by quality, widening the gap between low and high quality institutions.

Type: Article
Title: Centralized college admissions and student composition
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102184
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2021.102184
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Higher education, Centralized matching, Application frictions, College admission, Student composition, Migration, Test scores, Sorting
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Economics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10181197
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