Differential Pricing in Undergraduate Education: Effects on Degree Production by Field

Abstract

In the face of declining state support, many universities have introduced differential pricing by undergraduate program as an alternative to across-the-board tuition increases. This practice aligns price more closely with instructional costs and students’ ability to pay postgraduation. Exploiting the staggered adoption of these policies across universities, this paper finds that differential pricing does alter the share of students studying engineering and possibly business. There is some evidence that student groups already underrepresented in certain fields are particularly affected by the new pricing policies. Price does appear to be a policy lever through which state governments can alter the allocation of students to majors and thus the field composition of the workforce.

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