Corazzini, Arthur J., Dennis J. Dugan, and Henry G. Grabowski. 1972. "Determinants and Distributional Aspects of Enrollment in U.S. Higher Education." Journal of Human Resources 7(1):39-59.

Based upon human capital theory, an enrollment model for higher education is formulated with demand being subject to nonprice rationing by academic admission standards. Cross-sectional differences in student enrollment are related to variables representing both demand factors and supply-side constraints. Two questionnaire surveys--Project Talent's national cross-sectional sample in the early 1960s and a recent survey of 4,000 high school seniors in the Boston SMSA--provide sufficient data to test the theoretical hypothesis derived. At both levels of aggregation, strong structural relationships between college attendance and socioeconomic status emerge. Stratifying the on-going group by socioeconomic quartiles yields insights into the distributional aspects of higher education enrollment.

The authors are, respectively, Assistant Professor of Economics, Tufts University; Associate Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame; and Assistant Professor of Economics, Yale University. This national cross-sectional analysis, with evidence from one urban area, is an outgrowth of a joint research effort carried out with Ernest Bartell, C.S.C., John Keith, and Alvin Klevorick for the State of Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. The authors wish to thank all three gentlemen for numerous suggestions and helpful comments. They also wish to thank the State of Massachusetts for granting the funds which made this research possible.

© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

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