College Proximity: Mapping Access to Opportunity

The process by which students decide whether and where to attend college has been based most commonly on a college choice model that is independent of the students’ geographic context. However, the ability to attend college close to home is often among the most important factors considered by U.S. high school students, especially minorities and the socioeconomically disadvantaged. This study maps the place of residence of a national sample of high school seniors, as well as the location of all colleges within commuting distance of each student, and shows that seniors have a wide range of colleges in proximity. Furthermore, after taking account of important student and zip code level factors, each additional college in proximity is associated with a small but significant increase in the odds of applying to college, especially a four-year college. These findings suggest that we should stop treating the college choice process as though it were independent of location and start situating this process within the geographic context in which it occurs.

This project was funded by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation.