Do Tuition Fees Affect the Mobility of University Applicants? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

28 Pages Posted: 15 Oct 2009

See all articles by Nadja Dwenger

Nadja Dwenger

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance

Johanna Storck

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)

Katharina Wrohlich

DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Abstract

Several German states recently introduced tuition fees for university education. We investigate whether these tuition fees influence the mobility of university applicants. Based on administrative data of applicants for medical schools in Germany, we estimate the effect of tuition fees on the probability of applying for a university in the home state. We find a small but significant reaction: The probability of applying for a university in the home state falls by 2 percentage points (baseline: 69%) for high-school graduates who come from a state with tuition fees. Moreover, we find that students with lower high-school grades react more strongly to tuition fees. This might have important effects on the composition of students across states.

Keywords: mobility of high-school graduates, tuition fees, natural experiment

JEL Classification: I22, I28, H75, R23

Suggested Citation

Dwenger, Nadja and Storck, Johanna and Wrohlich, Katharina, Do Tuition Fees Affect the Mobility of University Applicants? Evidence from a Natural Experiment. IZA Discussion Paper No. 4421, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1489244 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1489244

Nadja Dwenger (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance ( email )

10117
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.tax.mpg.de/en/pub/public_economics/public_economics_people/dwenger_nadja.cfm

Johanna Storck

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

Katharina Wrohlich

DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
82
Abstract Views
938
Rank
360,704
PlumX Metrics