Making College Affordable? The Impacts of Tuition Freezes and Caps
62 Pages Posted: 7 Apr 2021 Last revised: 31 Jan 2024
Date Written: April 20, 2022
Abstract
We study how colleges' ``sticker price'' and institutional financial aid change during and after tuition caps and freezes using a modified event study design. While tuition regulations lower sticker prices, colleges recoup losses by lowering financial aid or rapidly increasing tuition after regulations end. At four-year colleges, regulations lower sticker price by 6.3 percentage points while simultaneously reducing aid by nearly twice as much (11.3 percentage points). At two-year colleges, while regulations lower tuition by 9.3 percentage points, the effect disappears within three years of the end of the regulation. Changes in net tuition vary widely; focusing on four-year colleges, while some students receive discounts up to 5.9 percentage points, others pay 3.8 percentage points more than they would have without these regulations. Students who receive financial aid, enter college right after the regulation is lifted, or attend colleges that are more dependent on tuition benefit less.
Keywords: Cost of Higher Education, Tuition Freezes/Caps, Institutional Aid
JEL Classification: H75, I21, I25
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation