Essays in the economics of higher education

Thesis

This DPhil thesis consists of three related but independent chapters discussing the question of admission and access to higher education. Chapter 1 explores the extent to which the underrepresentation of students from certain population groups at highly selective universities, can be explained by poor information and high non-monetary application costs, and how the universities' admission policies may affect outcomes. This chapter takes a positive approach and proposes a theoretical model to explore the implications of implementing alternative admission policies. Motivated by the results that arise from this exploration, Chapter 2 proceeds with a normative approach, proposing a general framework to study the optimal selection policy from a pool of applicants, taking into account that the pool of applicants is endogenous. This, it is argued, allows a characterisation of the optimal form of discrimination in university admissions. Chapter 3 studies the relationship between tuition fees and academic selectivity, by developing a different, although somewhat related model of monopolistic competition, where universities compete for students by simultaneously selecting prices and admission standards.

Authors: Ortiz Ospina, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-j00ek24o6
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English