Student Responsiveness to Earnings Data in the College Scorecard

Abstract

Using the universe of SAT score sends to colleges and the exact date on which these scores are sent, we estimate how students respond to release of the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard in September 2015. We find that data on annual cost and graduation rate, both of which were previously available, did not impact the volume of score sends received by colleges. By contrast, we estimate that each 10 percent increase in reported earnings results in a 2.4 percent increase in score sends. The impact is driven almost entirely by well-resourced high schools and students.

Keywords: College Applications, School Accountability, Quality Disclosure, College Scorecard