Abstract

This study reviews and explores varying effects of college quality caused by different measures of college quality, including Barron's ratings, mean SAT scores of entering freshman class, tuition and fees, and Carnegie Classification. Data for this research come from NCES's Baccalaureate & Beyond study. Results indicate that the estimated effect of college quality is sensitive to the measure of college quality, suggesting that different measures of college quality may provide a partial explanation for varying effects of college quality in previous studies. More importantly, this analysis shows that the common wisdom—that it pays to attend high-quality colleges—is robust to these measures.

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