Does it Pay to Attend a Prestigious University?

36 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2003

See all articles by Arnaud Chevalier

Arnaud Chevalier

University College Dublin (UCD) - Institute for the Study of Social Change; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Gavan Conlon

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: August 2003

Abstract

This paper provides evidence of heterogeneity in the returns to higher education in the UK. Attending the most prestigious universities leads to a wage premium of up to 6% for males. The rise in participation in higher education also led to a greater sorting of students and an increase in the returns to quality. These results somehow justify the recent introduction of top-up fees. Additionally, identification strategy matters and OLS estimates may be severely biased. However, our estimates, based on propensity score matching, are imprecise due to the thinness of the common support.

Keywords: higher education quality, tuition fees

JEL Classification: I20, I22

Suggested Citation

Chevalier, Arnaud and Conlon, Gavan, Does it Pay to Attend a Prestigious University? (August 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=435300 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.435300

Arnaud Chevalier (Contact Author)

University College Dublin (UCD) - Institute for the Study of Social Change ( email )

Belfield
Dublin 4
Ireland
+353 1 716 4616 (Phone)
+353 1 716 1108 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7 / 9
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Gavan Conlon

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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