Calibrating Costs: Do Tuition Reset Policies Affect Diverse Student Enrollment at Private Baccalaureate Colleges?

Abstract

This study focuses on tuition reset policies, where colleges reduce the published sticker price by at least 5%, and in many instances, much more. We use a difference-in-differences design to examine the effect of these policies on student enrollment disaggregated by race/ethnicity and a proxy for economic disadvantage. On average, these policies do little to move the needle regarding specific racial/ethnic diversity on campus; however, we find that these institutions experience a 6.5% increase in the share of Pell Grant students following the introduction of these policies.