Economic Recession and Full-Time College Enrollment

Abstract

Using macro data for the United States from 1970-2019, this paper develops a simple linear regression model and by using OLS methods, we conclude that the economic recession reduces full-time college enrollment by 14.1% and that the economic recession has a significantly higher impact on female than male. In this paper, we also replace the independent variable with the overall enrollment in tertiary education, and by the same method, we obtain the same conclusion that the economic recession reduces the enrollment in tertiary education by about 10.87%.